Second chances
by 4eva-xo
Summary: SEQUEL TO "SOME THINGS AREN'T MEANT TO BE OR ARE UNFINISHED". Nationals is now only a few weeks away. What will happen between Austin and Kaylie after her kiss with Brad? Will the pressure break up the best friends? Read to find out!
1. BAD TIMING

**Author's note:** Hey guys, as you all know, this is the sequel to _Some things aren't meant to be or are unfinished__. _Recap on what happened in the last chapter: Austin comes back from Asia to be with Kaylie and surprise her at her party. However, he oversees Kaylie & Brad kisses and tells the others to keep his arrival on the DL.

**Disclaimer:** WE DO NOT OWN MAKE IT OR BREAK IT, IT BELONGS TO HOLLY SORENSON - CREATOR OF THE SHOW.

HOWEVER, WE DO OWN BRAD COLLINS. :)

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

_Kaylie's POV_

Oh my god. Brad kissed me and I kissed him again afterwards. Oh. My. God. What if someone saw? What if Lauren or Payson saw? Worse, what if Max or Nicky saw? Would they tell Austin? I was sitting in my room, legs crossed on my bed, staring at my photo wall. I pinned pictures of my friends and I on that wall. I focused on the one photo that I loved the most: a cutout from a magazine of Austin and me kissing after I won my Gold Medal at Worlds. I felt so guilty. What was I going to say to Austin? Should I even tell him? No, I have to tell him. In time. I'll call him now, no I'll tell him when he gets back. I didn't want him to get upset during his Asian tour. And of course, with no doubt, he'll break up with me. I can't lose Austin; I _love_ him. The thought of losing him just makes me sick to the stomach. Sick enough to even quit gymnastics so I wouldn't have to face him everyday after the break-up.

I flipped open my phone and re-read the message Austin sent me last night.

_Babe, I miss you so much. See you soon. Love you xx._

After reading that message last night, I cried and cried. By the end, my eyes were sore and my head began to hurt. For the past 6 hours, I barely had any sleep. I stayed up thinking about Austin's reactions and what he's going to do to me, to us. I looked at the time, 5:30am. I should get ready to go to The Rock. I went into the bathroom, brushed my teeth and combed my hair. I pulled on my signature pink leotard and put on my pink and black tracksuit.

I went downstairs and took an apple from the fruit basket and took my keys from the cupboard. I got out the door and into my car. I looked in the mirror and wiped any remaining traces of tears that stayed there. I did my best to cover my eye bags with concealer. I drove off and ten minutes later, I arrived at The Rock. Everybody was there. Even Lauren. I parked my car in my parking space and looked to my left; it was empty. Austin was definitely not back, and he won't be back for another month. I walked into The Rock and bumped right into no other than Brad Collins. I kept my head down and mumbled an '_I'm sorry'_ and I walked towards the girls' locker room.

I got changed and walked out of the locker room. I walked towards Payson and Lauren.

"Hey guys," I said.

"Hey," they replied.

"Oh my god, Kaylie, what's wrong?" Payson questioned when she looked up at me.

"Yeah, I couldn't sleep for 2 days and there was a lot on my mind," I explained.

"Get better, okay?" Lauren said and put her hand on my shoulders. "Let's practice, Sasha's looking at us." We all agreed and I mounted the beam. I did my routine and it was not perfect. My stunts weren't very stable. I began my 3 twists dismount. I did a front handspring and then pushed myself off the beam. I did one twist, two twists, and lastly three twists. I could see the floor was too close to me and I knew I wouldn't land safely on my feet. I landed on my face.

"Kaylie!" Sasha's voice boomed. Oh great. I got up and walked towards Sasha and I knew Payson, Lauren, Max, Nicky and Brad were looking at her. Since Worlds last year, I never face-planted and ate mat before. I walked up towards Sasha and he was staring at me. I knew that face. He was disappointed.

"Sasha, I can explain," I began.

_Austin's POV_

It's been two days since the party. Right after I got back from Kaylie's, I sent her a message saying: Babe, I miss you so much. See you soon. Love you xx.

Of course, she didn't reply. I have been up for two days thinking about the day I see Kaylie. I have picked up the phone, dialed her number more than a hundred times. But I never dared to press the _Call_ button.

I was torn up inside. She kissed Brad Collins. I warned him to stay away from _my_ girl. But of course, he didn't listen to me. He kissed her right there in her kitchen. And she kissed him _again_ afterwards. I couldn't believe it. I knew she wouldn't cheat on me, but then that night. It all came crashing down. My insecurities caught up with me. What if I'm not good for her? After all I did leave her to go to Asia to promote Kobalt sunglasses. I miss her every single day I was gone. I missed her to a point I couldn't stand anymore and took the next flight home. I _abandoned_ the tour for _her_. I was going to surprise her at her party but I saw her kissing him.

I took my keys from the top of my table and got out the door. I drove towards The Rock. I knew I would have to face her someday soon, so why not today? I arrived at The Rock and I saw her car parked there. I took a deep breath and got out of my car. I stared at our banner on the wall of The Rock and slightly smiled. I put my hands on the handle of the door and with a deep breath; I pushed it in. Everyone was working hard and I slipped into the viewer's section unnoticed. I sat at the back behind all the parents. No one seemed to notice I was here. I scanned the room for my baby and found her on the beam. She executed her routine. She wasn't in the zone today. Her flips weren't strong and when she landed on the beam, she was wobbling. I saw her face and it looked as if she got no sleep at all. She began her dismount and when she pushed off, I knew she didn't jump high enough. I wanted to rush towards her to catch her but it was too late now. She landed, face first, on the mat. She didn't even bother getting up. She just lied there.

"Kaylie!" I heard Sasha's voice scream out. She tiredly got up and followed Sasha into his office.

_Kaylie's POV_

"Sasha, I can explain," I began.

"What is wrong with you today, Kaylie? This is not you. Tell me, what's wrong?" Sasha questioned.

"I didn't get enough sleep. I barely had enough sleep for the past two nights, I just have a lot on my mind, you know, with Nationals now a month away."

"Kaylie, take the rest of the day off. Go home," Sasha said while putting his hands on my shoulders.

"Sasha, it's okay, I can get through this. I'm fine," I pressed.

"No. Go home and get some sleep. I'll see you tomorrow," he said and squeezed my shoulders. I nodded and got out of the office.

I walked towards the girl's locker room, put on my tracksuit and got my gym bag and walked out. I went to the water fountain and got my self a cup of water.

"Hey," the voice said. I turned around and found myself looking at Brad.

"Uh, I have to go," I said, putting my cup into the trashcan.

"Kaylie, we need to talk about what happened on Saturday," he said and put his hand on my shoulders. I gave in. I turned around and looked at him.

"Yeah, about Saturday, I don't know what got into me. I'm with Austin and now he's going to _hate_ me if he finds out," I said and my voice began to crack.

"Kaylie, listen to me. I love you, okay? And I know you feel the same way. You may not love me but I know you have feelings for me. You can't just ignore what is right in your face, Kaylie," he said calmly. It was as if he rehearsed this speech.

"Brad, I…"

"Kaylie," the voice interrupted me. I turned my head around and this time, tears flowed out of my eyes.

"A-Austin," I stuttered. He was walking towards me with a smile on his face. He picked me up and hugged me right in front of Brad. The whole gym was looking at us.

Once he let me down on my two feet, I asked him, "What are you doing here?"

"I know, I've only been gone for 3 weeks. What am I doing here, right?" I nodded. "Well, I missed my baby so much. Every single day was torture for me. Then last Friday night, I was in Japan and I saw a magazine from Worlds. I saw our photo and at that moment, I couldn't hold it in any longer. I burst. I missed you so much and I couldn't stand it any longer. So I took the next flight home. And, here I am. I ditched the tour so I could be with you. I love you, Kaylie!" He wiped all the tears away from my eyes. He bent down and kissed me.

Oh my god. He _ditched_ Mr. Kobalt for me. He's back, for me. If he finds out, it is going to crush him. I plastered a smile on my face and wrapped my hands around his neck. I gave him a hug. I had to pretend to be the girlfriend I was before he left, the girlfriend that did _not_ kiss Brad Collins, who, I noticed, is still standing right there.

"Austin, can you take me home? Sasha told me to go home," I asked him.

"Sure, but what are we going to do about your car?" he asked.

"Is it okay if you asked Max to drop it off for me?" I questioned and he nodded. He laced his fingers through mine and we walked towards the door. I could feel everyone's eyes on us. After all, Austin did just pour his heart out to me a few minutes ago.


	2. UNWANTED SURPRISE

**THANK YOU FOR ALL THE AMAZING REVIEWS :) YOU GUYS ARE A STAR!**

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**THANK YOU! ENJOY THE CHAPTER xx**

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

_Austin's POV_

Kaylie and Brad are hanging out more than she did before. I admit, it makes me feel uneasy and jealous but now Kaylie knows that I came back and left Mr. Kobalt's business back in Asia. I left the tour for her. Am I losing her? To Collins? Brad Collins? Am I becoming soft? I'm so killing Collins; he's taking _my _girl. She's mine. I never thought Brad would do that. Aren't we friends?

I should get going if I want to get there in time. Sasha would go ballistic if I get there late. Brad would take the advantage of my absence. I arrived at The Rock and opened the door. I walked in and waved at my friends. Then there's Kaylie…with…Brad? Again? What's with that guy? Hands all over my girl. I couldn't keep this secret anymore. I need to confess, tell her the truth.

I headed to Kaylie, keeping my head high, "Hey babe, I need to talk to you," I took her hand and led her away from Payson and Lauren.

"So what did you want to say?" she questioned me.

"I lied to you and I'm sorry," I started.

"What? What did you lie about?" she asked curiously.

"I didn't come back yesterday, I came back on Saturday," I finally confessed.

"What? Saturday? Did you go anywhere when you landed?" she asked nervously.

"Yeah, I headed to yours."

"Pardon me? Did you just say my house?"

"Kaylie…I saw you."

"Me? Saw me what?"

"YOU AND BRAD…KAYLIE!" I yelled, "I saw everything."

"You saw that, huh?" she admitted.

"Yes I did. Now I'll give you 5 minutes to explain."

"I guess I have nothing to explain."

"Are you sure you have nothing to explain?" I questioned her with a firm voice.

"He kissed me and that's it."

She just fucking lied to me, "You also kissed him."

"You're telling me now? Why did you keep it a secret?"

"I gave you a chance to confess but all you did was talk to Brad about it and not me."

"I'm sorry I cheated on you but he was there and you were off somewhere hanging with girls in bikinis probably," she explained.

"You cheated on me Kaylie! I can't believe I trusted you and you think that I would cheat on you?" I couldn't believe her.

"Did I say I'm sorry?"

"Stop it Kaylie, there's nothing left to say about this."

We had a moment of awkward silence. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. She thought I would cheat on her? Guess I trusted her too much.

"You know what Kaylie? I think the paparazzi got our couple name the wrong way around. I think you're the Bad-girl Kay. I'm just Austin Tucker and Austin Tucker doesn't go for a Bad-girl."

"What are you saying, Austin?" she asked me. I had to end it.

"I'm saying. It's over." She didn't say anything; she just looked at me. I could see tears forming in her eyes. I wanted to hold her and say it's going to be okay, but I can't. We're over.

"But, you said you'd never break up with me," she finally said, tears streaming out of her eyes.

"Kaylie, I'm sorry, but this…" I said and pointed between us, "I can't do this anymore." I gave her one last look and turned around. I walked away from her. I never thought a day like this would come. I never thought I'd break up with her because of another guy. In all honesty, I never thought I would have to break up with her. My heart was in pain. No other girl has made me feel this way, just Kaylie Cruz.

_Kaylie's POV_

I woke up early this morning. I got ready and took out my pink and black tracksuit. I wore my pink and silver leotard underneath. I didn't feel hungry so I just took my car keys and walked out of the house. I still felt so bad for not telling Austin about Brad kissing me and me kissing him. I am basically cheating on him. Can I still talk to Brad even if I feel bad? I'm the worst girlfriend ever. I really should tell him.

Speaking of Austin Tucker. He just walked in looking as hot as ever. My boyfriend. For now. If he ever finds out…he wouldn't be good. I didn't look at him, I would feel much worst. I just casually got back to my conversation. Payson and Lauren probably think I'm going off in space.

"So let's do it, right Kay?" said Lauren.

"What? What did you say?"

"Kay? Earth to Kaylie?" Lauren was waving her hand in front of my face.

"Sorry I was just distracted."

"We can see that. Anyways, we were thinking we should all go on a triple date one day. But I feel sorry for Brad, since he doesn't have a date you know," Lauren was explaining to me.

Triple date? That doesn't sound bad. But Brad? He doesn't have a girlfriend so he would feel left out. Why did I care? Triple date! Shouldn't I be happy?

"Maybe we should set him up with Kelly. She's coming to Nationals right? We can celebrate after?" Payson suggested.

"Brad? Set up? Kelly? With Kelly?" I asked.

"Yeah. Don't you think it's a good idea?" questioned Payson.

"Sure. But would he be up for it?"

Before Payson could answer my question Austin walked up to us and asked for me.

"Hey babe, I need to talk to you," He took my hand and led me away from Payson and Lauren.

"So what did you want to say?"

"I lied to you and I'm sorry," he started.

"What? What did you lie about?" I asked curiously. What was he talking about? Wasn't it me who lied?

"I didn't come back yesterday, I came back on Saturday," he confessed.

"What? Saturday? Did you go anywhere when you landed?" I questioned him while feeling uneasy. Where is this going?

"Yeah, I headed to yours."

"Pardon me? Did you just say my house?"

This is not starting off very well. Oh. No.

"Kaylie…I saw you."

"Me? Saw me what?"

What! He saw me kissing him? Or him kissing me? Or both?

"YOU AND BRAD…KAYLIE!" he yelled, "I saw everything."

"You saw that, huh?" I finally admitted. I couldn't get away with this one anyway.

"Yes I did. Now I'll give you 5 minutes to explain."

"I guess I have nothing to explain."

"Are you sure you have nothing to explain?"

"He kissed me and that's it," I lied again.

"You also kissed him."

Oh. God.

"You're telling me now? Why did you keep it a secret?"

If he knew all along then why tell me now? Why would he keep it a secret? He should be furious the minute he saw unless he doesn't love me like he claimed to say.

"I gave you a chance to confess but all you did was talk to Brad about it and not me."

"I'm sorry I cheated on you but he was there and you were off somewhere hanging with girls in bikinis probably," I tried to explained.

"You cheated on me Kaylie! I can't believe I trusted you and you think that I would cheat on you?"

"Did I say I'm sorry?"

"Stop it Kaylie, there's nothing left to say about this."

The awkward silence was a pain in the ass. But why would he trust me now? I did something so wrong. Why would he trust me?

"You know what Kaylie? I think the paparazzi got our couple name the wrong way around. I think you're the Bad-girl Kay. I'm just Austin Tucker and Austin Tucker doesn't go for a Bad-girl."

Excuse me? Insulting much? I thought he was in love with me?

"What are you saying, Austin?"

"I'm saying. It's over."

WHAT? OVER? He's breaking up with me? But he said he would never?

"But, you said you'd never break up with me," I finally said, tears streaming out of her eyes.

"Kaylie, I'm sorry, but this…" he said and pointed between us, "I can't do this anymore."

_Austin's POV_

I finally broke up with her? I told her I would never break up with her. I would keep that promise any day but this was just too much. Kaylie cheated on me. It was too much for me to accept. I can't just forgive and forget about it. Things like this doesn't go away, it just way too much. I can't be with someone who is also in love with one of my friends. Or so I thought he was my friend.

Brad Collins. I will have to talk to him soon. I want him out of my house. I don't care where he goes I just want him out of my house. He betrayed me. Kaylie betrayed me. I'm over it.

"Kaylie, I'm sorry, but this…" I'm done, "I can't do this anymore."

I walked away without any word. I turned away and walked back to my friends. I have to tell them the truth about why I didn't want Kaylie to know that I was back on Saturday. Luckily, Brad wasn't with them. Where was he? Probably with Kaylie.

"Guys, remember when I told you guys I don't want Kaylie to know that was I back because of some surprise for our anniversary?" I began, "Yeah. I lied."

"Why would you lie dude?" Max asked, confused.

"Because…when I went out to the back of her house. I saw Brad and her talking. I was about to surprise her but then…they kissed," I started, "They broke apart soon after but the next part was what surprised me."

"Oh boy," Nicky said.

"Yeah. She kissed him again after. So she cheated on me."

"Sorry man," Max comforting me.

"So just now…I broke up with her," I blurted.

"DUDE! You broke up with Kaylie? That sucks."

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Nicky teased Max.

I chuckled a little. But they were right. I did what I had to do and it sucks that I had to break up with a beautiful, talented girl. I broke up with Kaylie Cruz. I gave them a smile and then walked away. I headed to my car and drove home. I took out my phone and started texting Brad.

We've got to talk.

_All right. Tonight. _

_Kaylie's POV_

"Kaylie, I'm sorry, but this…" he said and pointed between us, "I can't do this anymore."

He can't do this anymore? He walked away from me without another word. I just wish I could take it all back. What if I never kissed Brad? We would still be dating. We could have gone on the Triple date with Lauren and Payson. It would have been perfect. Everything would still be normal. It would have made sense. I headed towards my friends and suck it up and told them.

"Why so down?" Payson asked curiously.

"Austin and I broke up."

"WHAT?" both of them screamed in unison.

"Why? What happened?" Payson questioned.

"You know the party I hosted on Saturday? Yeah, Austin came back on that day."

Payson and Lauren looked at each other, giving each other the stare. I was curious and I wanted to know.

"What was that?"

"What was what?" Lauren asked.

"The stare you guys just shared."

"Oh. Nothing," Lauren told me.

"Actually. We knew Austin was back on that day," Lauren tapped Payson on her arm, "We have to tell her. Kay, sorry about keeping it a secret but he told us that he was planning on some big surprise for your anniversary, so we thought that's what he meant."

I couldn't believe this. They kept it a secret! But was it really their fault? Austin did tell them that and our anniversary was close by. I shouldn't really blame them. I should blame Austin. Who did he think he is? Lying to my best friends too. Did he lie to his?

"It's alright. It's not your fault. You thought it was a surprise. But what he saw was surprising for him indeed."

"What did he see Kaylie?" Payson asked.

"He saw Brad and I kissed."

Their jaws dropped and I couldn't imagine what they would say next.

"What? Kaylie! Austin!" Payson shrieked.

"I know. I'm so bad. But Brad and I had a connection and he kissed me."

"So he made the move. Thank god. Why didn't you tell Austin that it was Brad fault?" Lauren questioned.

"Actually it was my fault too?"

"How? He kissed you. It's not like you kissed him back again…right? OH MY GOD YOU DID!" Lauren screamed.

"I know. I have nothing to say."

Nothing. Absolutely nothing to say.

Brad saw me looking down and insisted to take me home. During the ride home we said nothing to each other. We arrived and I suddenly remembered, dad isn't home, maybe I should invite Brad in for a cup of tea? Tea? Why would we want to drink tea? Maybe coffee? It's just 7:30. Yeah. Dinner. We'll order some pizza or hamburger.

"Hey, Brad. Thanks for the ride," I began.

"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow."

"No. Wait. Want to come in? Dinner?" I insisted.

"Sure. What do you want?"

"Hamburger? Pizza?" I suggested.

He nodded and climbed out of his car and head in to my house. We walked into the kitchen and I picked up the phone. Dialed the number of pizza delivery.

"_Hello?"_

"Hey. Can I have one large Pepperoni Pizza, please," I asked.

"_Sure, where should we deliver?"_

I told them where my house was and hung up. I smiled at Brad and didn't know what to do.

"Hey it would take them 30 minutes to delivered it."

"Oh okay. Cool," is he keeping it cool?

"Maybe we should go up to my room since there's nothing here to do anyways."

"Alright. Whatever you want," he smiled.

We both went up stairs and he sat on the bed and I sat next to him. We had to talk.

"Austin and I broke up."

"Really? What happened?" he asked.

"We had our problem and we just couldn't do this anymore so he broke up with me."

"I'm sorry. Is it my fault?"

"No. Not at all," of course it was our fault but I didn't want to make it sound like I'm blaming him.

"You know I would never do that to you, right?" he questioned me. His eyes were staring straight at me.

Without another word I leaned in and kissed him. Of course he kissed me back. The kiss was passionate and hot. The kiss deepened and I moved on top of him. He began to lie down on my bed and I followed. He tugged at my shirt and I allowed him to take it off. I broke the kiss and took off his shirt.

Wait, where is this going? Are we going to do it? Oh. My. God. We are! But why can't I stop? Why do I feel like I want to rip his pants off right now? Holy shit, Kaylie Cruz. Me, Kaylie Cruz, is about to lose her virginity.

I stood up and took off my track pants. He smiled at me. He looks so hot. Brad Collins is going to take my virginity. I always thought Austin Tucker would be the one to do this, but now, in this situation, it's Brad Collins, the new guy at The Rock.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Brad asked me. I simply nodded and began kissing him again.


	3. SECRETS

**Author's note:** okay, well all your previous reviews said something along the lines of "i want Austin and Kaylie back together" and "Kaylie and Brad shouldn't have sex". Goods news is *spoiler alert* KayAus will get back together, not in this chapter but later chapters, so keep reading to find out. The reason behind the whole sex fiasco is because we wanted a plot twist.

For those who likes/loves our stories, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME :)

Well, anyways, have fun reading, though you guys may not like it because its Kay & Brad :) but still, read it! We spent a lot of time writing these chapters, so yeah. xx

oh and _**PLEASE REVIEW**_!

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><p><strong>Chapter 3<strong>

_Brad's POV_

Holy Shit! I had sex with Kaylie Cruz. Kaylie. Cruz. The girl I was fighting with Austin Tucker for. At last, Game Over for Austin Tucker. I had won and now she's mine to keep. Although, we haven't talked about the night we spent. After we had sex on her bed we went to the 'awkward silences' stage and ate the pepperoni pizza she ordered. We ate the pizza and I just said goodnight and left. I drove back to the lake house and found Austin waiting for me. Oh. God. The talk he mentioned.

"Where were you?" Austin asked.

"I was hanging."

"Right. Anyways, what happened last Saturday night?" he questioned.

"Went to Kaylie's. Not what you think. It's her party."

"I think you know where I'm going with this," he pointed out.

"Going to bed?"

"No. Kaylie she cheated on me and we broke up today," he confessed.

"Really? What happened?"

"She cheated on me with YOU! Why the fuck did you do that? I can't believe you would take advantage of her when I'm gone," he started screaming at me.

"What? Where did you hear that from?"

"Not HEAR! SAW! I saw it with my own eyes."

Oh. Boy.

"How? I thought you went straight home when you landed on Saturday. That's what you told me."

"I lied you jackass."

"I'm sorry. But we both had a connection and I wanted to see if the connection was really there," I tried to convinced him.

"Like I trust you now. I can't do this right now. Nationals are coming up pretty soon. Gymnastics is all I think about."

"We'll talk tomorrow. It's late. I'm tired."

Thank god. This is awkward already. I couldn't stand here and tell him I told her I love her. I'd do it, its just Austin shouldn't know about it. Or did he know already?

"We don't need to talk about this," he began. I was confused where this was heading, "We don't need to talk about it ever again. You should go."

"I know. I'm heading to my room."

As I was heading upstairs. Austin said, "When I said 'you should go' I meant you should find another place to stay."

"Oh. Well I'll just go and pack."

He nodded. I headed upstairs. I put all my clothes in my duffel bag and started to pack my toiletries and before I could get a chance to bring it down and head to a hotel, Kaylie texted me.

_We should talk about last night. _

I know. Austin just kicked me out of the lake house.

_He kicked you out? Why would he do that?_

Beats me. He knew we kissed and told me about you guys breaking up.

_Where are you planning to stay?_

A hotel I guess.

_No. You shouldn't. Come over and stay over my house. _

How about your dad?

_He's gone till Nationals. _

All right, I'll come over.

_Great, I'll get the guest room ready. I'll see you x. _

We finished texting and so I took my duffel bag downstairs. I was about to head to Kaylie's but then I noticed Nicky and Max standing by the front door.

"That was not cool, dude," Max pointed out.

"No. Really?" Nicky teased.

"I made a mistake."

"A huge one. Well, good luck," Max wished me.

"Bye, dude. Where are you staying?" Nicky questioned.

"Hotel."

They both waved and I started to walk over to Kaylie's.

_Kaylie's POV_

I can't believe I lost my virginity to Brad Collins. Austin already broke up with me so I wasn't cheating on him. I did it. I had sex. It doesn't feel any different now. Brad Collins is my present. Austin Tucker is the past. I'm not saying that I'm over him but Brad Collins is just different. He's not Austin Tucker. He's cockier but he's sweet and will be there for me. I should text him. We should talk about last night.

We should talk about last night.

_I know. Austin just kicked me out of the lake house._

He kicked you out? Why would he do that?

_Beats me. He knew we kissed and told me about you guys breaking up._

Where are you planning to stay?

_A hotel I guess. _

No. You shouldn't. Come over and stay over my house.

_How about your dad?_

He's gone till Nationals.

_All right, I'll come over._

Great, I'll get the guest room ready. I'll see you x.

He's coming over. So we can get this talk over with! Thank God. He's also staying over, dad is gone so I don't have to worry about the explanation with dad and have the 'sex talk'. Although, he's kind of late. I lost it. I went downstairs and opened the door. Austin's Lake house is pretty close to mine so I should wait outside.

Perfect Timing as always unlike Austin. He had good timing but not perfect. Seeing Brad walking to my house late at night seems like a romantic thing. I grabbed his duffel bag and told him to go upstairs; the guest room was first room on the left. I followed him and threw the duffel bag onto the floor. We both sat on the bed. We're about to have the talk.

"So we should have _the_ talk," I told him.

"Yeah. Where to start?"

"Where do we see this relationship going?" I questioned.

"You and me become one."

That sounds kind of cheesy.

"You think we'll be one big blob?" I laughed.

"NO! I meant together."

"That's sweet."

"So what are we?"

"I guess what you want us to be," I smiled.

I leaned in and kissed him. We broke apart.

"You should go to bed."

He nodded and I walked out. I head straight back to my room and grabbed my phone off the bedside table. I texted both Payson and Lauren.

Guess I have a new boyfriend. Brad Collins.

I switched off my phone. Whatever they texted back, that's tomorrow problem. I jumped into bed and went to sleep.

_Brad's POV_

Did Kaylie just accept me being her boyfriend request? Yes she did. I should tell Nicky about this. Obviously it's not for Austin to know. It's for him to tell Max. Then Max would probably tell Austin. This would turn out great. Austin, Game over for you. I took my phone and start texting Nicky.

Hey. Nicky, guess what?

_What? How's the hotel treating you?_

Yeah. I lied about the hotel.

_You little bastard. _

Dude, language. I'm staying at Kaylie's.

_You dick. _

DUDE.

_At least I didn't use little. Why? What up?_

Well she insisted and so I agreed to it. We're now together.

_What? How about Austin?_

We're not friends anymore. As soon as he kicked me out. We're done as friends.

_Dude. Bad move. _

You don't know what you're talking about. Austin is bad news for her.

_Or you?_

Don't go there. Tell Max will ya?

_All right. Night. _

I turned off my phone as soon as I read the text. Done and done. Bring it on Austin Tucker. The plan is on. Kaylie Cruz and Brad Collins. Brad Collins and Kaylie Cruz. I don't know, but that sounds pretty good to me. Austin Tucker, you are going down.

_Nicky's POV_

I was reading this Playboy magazine and Brad Collins text me. What did he want? He betrayed Austin and now he's texting me? Didn't he know what he's done? I can't believe this bastard. He should just go die in the ditch. I took my phone and looked at it. Hey. Nicky, guess what?

_Hey. Nicky, guess what? _

What was this guy talking about? Guess what? He's a jackass? Well whatever. I'll just see what he wants. I start texting him back.

What? How's the hotel treating you?

_Yeah. I lied about the hotel. _

You little bastard.

_Dude, language. I'm staying at Kaylie's. _

You dick.

_DUDE. _

At least I didn't use little. Why? What up?

_Well she insisted and so I agreed to it. We're now together. _

What? How about Austin?

_We're not friends anymore. As soon as he kicked me out. We're done as friends. _

Dude. Bad move.

_You don't know what you're talking about. Austin is bad news for her._

Or you?

_Don't go there. Tell Max will ya? _

All right. Night.

I've got to tell Max about this and Austin. I can't believe him. Austin will be heartbroken if he hears about this. They just broke up and now Kaylie has moved on. That was fast. Not bad. Beside the point, I got to tell Austin.

I walked downstairs and saw Austin by the pool with Max drinking. I walked slowly towards them and nodded. They nodded back and I gave them the 'eyes'. Telling them I need to tell them something. I sat down by Austin's chair and began to tell them the story that would probably break Austin heart.

"Austin, there's something I need to say."

"What up, Nicky?"

"It's about Kaylie."

"Kaylie? She's gone," he told me.

"I know. It's about Brad too."

This is not going so well…

"What about him?"

"He and Kaylie…are…together…"

"Say what?" Max looked stunned.

"Get your head out of your ass Nicky and tell me what you needed to say."

"Austin…I know you don't want to hear it but it's true."

"Alright. I gotta go up. I'm tired. Talk to you guys tomorrow," he began.

"Alright."

Austin then stood up and left…

_Austin's POV_

Kaylie Cruz and Brad Collins… Brad Collins and Kaylie Cruz…

They're together. Already? That was fast. We just broke up. Really? I gotta give it to him. He won. For now. Austin Tucker isn't going to cry over some break up. He would keep his head strong and head down to the bar and hook up with some chick. Party. Girls. Sleep. Party. Eat. Then repeat. That's Austin Tucker. Kaylie Cruz was just a bad flu. Now that bad flu has gone and I'm back in the market.

I took all my Valentino suits that I wore with Kaylie to events and put it in an old duffel bag. I grabbed it and walked out of the house with it. I left it on the curb. Whoever finds it, must be his lucky day. That's done. Nothing stops me now. I then got back into the house and grabbed my Armani suit and put it on, over my Armani white shirt. Then took my leather shoes and my signature Mr. Kobalt sunglasses. I then rushed downstairs, quickly grabbed my car keys and head out. I unlocked my new Ferrari and got in.

Time to find a bar. Find a chick and let's get this party started. Goodbye Austin Tucker. Hello Mr. Kobalt.


	4. BROKEN

**Author's note:** Thank you for all the reviews! Just btww, we've written all the chapters so now, its just posting it all up! we're posting one a day fyi :)

Okay, so some of you may think that we have gone off-track with Kaylie's characteristics. But we're writing about the future, so who knows, right? So please don't criticize us for going an extra few miles in Kaylie's shoes, just enjoy the story. We put a lot of time and effort into it :)

**KEEP REVIEWING**! xx

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><p><strong>Chapter 4<strong>

_Austin's POV_

I headed to the nearest bar, parked my cherry red Ferrari and walked in. My white Armani shirt was buttoned down and my suit was not buttoned. When I walked in, I was glad to see there were a variety of girls there: blondes, brunettes and redheads. Who should I go for first? I had the attention of all the women in the bar, they all turned towards me and I was barely two steps in. I gave them all my _smirk_ and took off my sunglasses in the sexiest way I could possibly think of. The girls all swooned and they were all looking for my attention.

I walked up towards the bar and found the hottest girl there: a redhead with doe eyes. I'm pretty sure her breasts were between the C and the D range. She was wearing a mini skirt with a tight bustier top. I was pretty sure her top was from Victoria's Secret.

"Hey, there, babe," I told her and gave her a smirk.

"Austin Tucker, what can I do for you?" She questioned and smiled at me flirtatiously. She knows me? Wait, I _am_ Austin Tucker after all. I'm the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist and I _am_ Mr. Kobalt.

"Help me take my mind off things," I told her. She ordered me a shot of tequila and I downed it in less than a second. We ordered more and more shots as the night carried on. It was around 1am and I was still out. In 5 hours, I had to be at The Rock, training, but I didn't give a shit. I didn't want to go to the gym and see Kaylie and him flirt the entire time.

I moved on to the next girl, a blonde who was equally sexy. She was commenting on how sexy I was. I know how sexy I am; I _am_ Mr. Kobalt aren't I? She began at my neck and I didn't feel anything. I was drunk. I drunkly pushed her off me and stumbled out of the bar. I got to my car and unlocked it. Got in and sat in there. I struggled to put the key into the ignition. I was feeling dizzy and I knew I was going to pass out any moment soon. After all, I did finish a whole bottle of tequila and then vodka after.

I woke up the next morning in my Ferrari outside the bar. My head began to hurt and of course, the aftermath of hardcore partying was pain. Hangovers are such bitches. I rubbed my temples and sat there with my eyes closed. When my headaches subdued, I opened my eyes and looked at the time on the dashboard. Noon. Oh crap. 6 hours late. I took out my phone and saw I had 15 missed calls, most of them from Sasha, Nicky and Max. None from Kaylie.

I put my key into the ignition and the engine rumbled. I pulled out of the parking lot and drove towards The Rock. I arrived there 15 minutes later. I parked my car in the usual spot, on the right of Kaylie's. I looked at her car and felt a stab of heart pain. _No._ Austin Tucker you are _not_ allowed to be like this. You're Austin Tucker, you're Mr. Kobalt, no girl should be able to make you feel like this. Forget about her, I told myself. I got out of the car and walked into The Rock. All of them were on lunch break. I went straight into the boys' locker room and got changed. I went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. I looked terrible. I cupped my hands under the faucet and splashed water on my face. When the cold water hit my face, a chill ran through my body. I felt better.

I went outside and I could see that everybody was back from their lunch and began training. I walked towards the pommel horse as no one was using it. I saw Kaylie, Payson and Lauren looking at me, mumbling. I could see the expression of worry plastered on Kaylie's face. I ignored them. I mounted the pommel horse and began my routine. I executed it perfectly. I gave myself an internal high five. Even with a subtle headache and a hangover, I could still perform everything perfectly. I smirked. I went to chalk up and once done, I went towards the parallel bars. I mounted it and I could see Sasha making his way towards me with an angry look on his face. I could care less. I'm here aren't I? And plus, my routines are perfect. He was standing there and I knew I had to perfectly complete this routine. In the end, I did. I was fucking flawless. I turned towards Sasha and was ready for any shouting that he was going to give.

"Austin Tucker!" He shouted in my face and everyone stopped what they were doing. The gym went silent and everyone turned to look at us. Even Kaylie, Payson, Lauren, Brad, Nicky and Max. They were all staring. Sasha didn't seem to care.

"Yes, Sasha?" I said calmly, looking at him dead in the eye.

"Who do you think you are? You walked in here at 12:30 and didn't even bother to come to my office and tell me why you were 6 and a half hours late?" He said, I could feel his anger reaching its peak.

"Woke up late, sorry, dude," I said, shrugging. I could see everyone stare in horror.

"Dude? I am _not _a 'dude'. I am your coach," he said sternly.

"Yeah, okay, whatever. Can I get back to training now?"

"Not yet. Listen to me, why are you being like this? Is there something wrong?"

"There's nothing wrong with me, I'm perfectly fine," I said and stared directly into Kaylie's eyes. She cringed a little bit. I smirked.

"Austin, you are hungover. Go home; come back tomorrow, at 6 in the morning. Not noon," Sasha told me.

"Fine, you want me to go home? I'll go home," I went into the locker room to pick up my gym bag. When I got out, everyone was still staring at me. I walked towards the door. On the way out, I screamed, "See you all later, suckers!" I then laughed and pushed the door open. I got into my car and drove back to my lake house. I was glad Sasha gave me the day off, my headache came back and I don't think I would've been able to survive today's training. I went into my house, into my room and went straight into bed. I fell asleep almost immediately.

_At The Rock_

"See you all later, suckers!" Austin screamed and then laughed.

The whole gym was silent and they couldn't believe Austin just did that.

"Oh my god," Lauren finally said.

"Yeah, that's not Austin Tucker," Payson agreed.

"What happened to him?" Kaylie asked. The elite boys joined them, still surprised by the stunt Austin just pulled.

"He was out since 7 last night," Nicky told them. "He never came home. Didn't see him until just now."

"Hate to break it to you guys, but," Max started, sighing, "Mr. Kobalt's back."

"What do you mean, "Mr. Kobalt's back"? That doesn't even make sense," Payson said.

"I'll break it down for you, whenever Austin's upset. Whether it's because he got silver or his team lost, or whatever that could make someone upset, he ditches Austin Tucker," Max explained. They all gave them a confused look.

"What?" Kaylie and Lauren said in unison.

"He becomes Mr. Kobalt. You know? Party, sleep, eat and repeat. He doesn't even care about the fact that Sasha just sent him home. Austin Tucker is now dead until someone can resurrect him. So now, the bad boy is back," Max finished.

"I'm guessing it's a bad thing," Brad finally said.

"It is. The last time he was like this, he got in an accident and he didn't even give a shit. He wasn't allowed to train for a month but he didn't even care. He partied every night and hooked up with as many women as he could. The last time, he stayed Mr. Kobalt for a solid 6 months."

After Max explained to them the situation with Mr. Kobalt, Kaylie felt as if it was her fault.

"I'm going to go talk to him," Kaylie announced. "He's like this because of me. I'm going to 'resurrect' Austin Tucker." They all just nodded.

_Austin's POV_

I woke up at 6pm. My hangover was now gone. I walked down the stairs and poured my self a glass of water. I took one sip and spat it out. I needed something stronger. I opened my fridge and saw a bottle of Bourbon and opened the cap. I couldn't be bothered to get a glass so I just drank it from the bottle. I opened my phone and called the person I was looking for.

"Hey, it's Austin," I said into the phone.

"_Hey,"_ the voice answered.

"Come over, now," I commanded and before she could answer, I hung up.

10 minutes later, the doorbell rang. I walked towards the door and opened it.

"Hey there, Ashley," I said. I was tipsy and I've already downed ¼ of the bottle. "Come in." She came in and she looked so hot in her mini dress. I gave her a beer. We stripped down into our swimming suits and went into the Jacuzzi. She leaned towards me. I didn't want to make out with her. I just wanted to be distracted. I wasn't exactly looking for a hook up. Before I could say something, the doorbell rang.

I nudged her a little bit and said, "I'm going to go get the door." I picked up my bottle of Bourbon, which is now ¾ empty. I walked towards the door and saw the last person I wanted to see. I wanted to close the door on her but her eyes were pleading me not to.

"Oh hey! It's Cruz. What are you doing here?" I said.

_Kaylie's POV_

I arrived at Austin's lake house and gathered all my nerves and walked up towards the door. I stood there, staring at the white door. What if he closes the door in my face? What if he doesn't want to talk to me? I rang the doorbell anyways. He opened it and I could sense he wanted to slam the door. I gave him a pleading look.

"Oh hey! It's Cruz. What are you doing here?" He said. He was holding a bottle of Bourbon and it was nearly empty.

"Austin, are you drunk?"

"So you care about me now?" He said and I could sense the hatred in his voice. I felt even guiltier.

"Austin, please. Just _please_ hear me out," I pleaded.

"_Austin, who's at the door?"_ a girl's voice called out. I was shocked; he already had another girl in his house?

"Give me a minute!" He screamed back. "Okay, what do you want?"

"Austin, please. Don't be like this. You're drunk and it's barely past 7pm. Please."

He looked me straight in the eye and I felt as if he could see straight through me, into my soul. I still cared about him, I do. I didn't mean to hurt him, but what he said next definitely hurt me.

"Yeah, whatever, Cruz. Why don't you go back to Collins, after all, you seem to care about him more than you care about me. See you later, wait, actually, I don't want to see you again. Bye, Cruz," he said and when he was done, he slammed the door in my face.


	5. DEJA VU

**Author's note:** okay, we didn't get a lot of reviews on the last chapter. keep reviewing so then we can post the chapters up! because if we don't know what you guys are thinking about our story, we may think you guys hate it ):

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><p><strong>Chapter 5<strong>

_Kaylie's POV_

That one phrase struck me like lightning. _"I don't want to see you again."_ It kept repeating in my head over and over and over again. I could feel hot tears running down my cheeks. I still love him. I do. "He didn't mean that," I said under my breath. My heart ached. Why am I feeling this way? I'm dating Brad. I love him. No. I actually don't. I don't love Brad. I love Austin. Oh my god. What have I done?

I turned around and got in my car. Once I was inside, the sky began to pour. Ironic huh? The weather is mimicking my mood. It started to thunder and I drove quicker to get home. All the cars around me were trying to get home as quick as possible. I drove quicker, but carefully.

I got to a red light and I stopped, waiting for the seconds to pass. After about 20 seconds, the light turned green and stepped on my gas. I could hear a car honking and I turned to my right. The headlights of the SUV were directed at me. My eyes widened. I felt the impact of the SUV on my car. The next thing I knew, darkness surrounded me.

_Payson's POV_

I was at Lauren's house and Kaylie was supposed to meet us an hour ago. Where was she? She's supposed to tell us what happened over at Austin's but she's not here. I was getting worried about her. She would have at least called or text us. I checked my phone and nothing. Zero. Nada. We tried calling her but it went straight to voice mail. What is happening? What did Austin say? Lauren began to pace around her living room biting her nails and I was strumming my fingers on her coffee table. This is killing me.

"Where is she?" Lauren asked me.

My phone suddenly rang.

"We're about to find out."

I picked up without looking at the caller ID and I screamed into my phone, "KAYLIE WHERE THE HELL ARE YOU?"

"_Payson, this is Sasha. Mind your language."_

"Oh sorry. Is there something wrong?" I asked.

"_Yeah. It's about Kaylie. She got into an accident,"_ Sasha told me.

Oh. My. God. Kaylie's was in an accident. I mouthed what Sasha just told me to Lauren. Lauren said, "I can't understand you, Pay."

"Alright Sasha. We'll be there as soon as we can," I hung up.

Lauren asked, "Be where, Pay? I'm confused."

"Lo, Kaylie just got in a car accident."

Lauren's mouth hung open. We didn't say another word and Lauren quickly grabbed her keys and we ran out the door, climbed into her car and drove straight to the hospital. I then start texting Max: Max. S.O.S. Kaylie. Accident. Hospital. Come now. We're heading there.

_Max's POV_

_Max. S.O.S. Kaylie. Accident. Hospital. Come now. We're heading there. _

I read Payson's text message and was confused at first. I read it again and again and it finally sunk in.

"Holy shit!" I said and jumped out of my seat. Austin and Nicky looked at me, confused.

"Uh, I got to go," I rushed.

"Dude, what is going on?" Nicky asked.

"Kaylie. Accident. Hospital," I shouted while looking for the car keys.

_Austin's POV_

"Holy shit!" Max said and jumped out of his seat. It made me jump a little bit as well. I looked at him and gave him a _what-the-hell_ look.

"Uh, I got to go," he quickly said.

"Dude, what is going on?" Nicky asked him. I just continued looking at Max who was now running around the living room like a headless chicken.

"Kaylie. Accident. Hospital," he shouted. It struck me. _Kaylie. Accident. Hospital._ I just continued staring at him.

"What the hell? Care to elaborate?" Nicky shouted.

"Kaylie. She…she…she got into a car accident. She's in the hospital right now. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go!"

"I'm coming with you," Nicky said and got up from the couch. I just kept staring at them. My face had no expression. _Kaylie. Accident. Hospital_. No, it couldn't be. It was too much for me. This was a repetition of the Worlds Trials.

"Austin! Austin Tucker!" Nicky and Max shouted while nudging me.

"Yeah, what?" I asked.

"You coming or not?"

Am I coming? Should I go to the hospital? No. After what I said to her, going to her will just make matters worse. I don't want to see her like this. I've already seen her in the hospital. I promised to myself that I'd never let her be in that situation anymore; to stay clear away from hospitals. I broke my promise.

"Austin!" Max shouted more urgently.

"Uh, no, I don't think I am," I told them. They nodded and rushed out the door and piled into Max's new car.

_Lauren's POV_

Waiting at the hospital was nerve-racking. She was still in the emergency room. All we're waiting for right now is for the doctor to come out and tell us that Kaylie will be okay. She _needs_ to be okay. Nationals are 3 weeks away. Sasha was pacing nervously around the waiting room and Payson and I were sitting on the couch, holding each other's hands. We were praying that Kaylie would be okay.

"Lauren! Payson!" someone shouted. I turned around and saw Nicky and Max running into the hospital.

"Hey guys," I replied.

"So, what happened?" Nicky questioned.

"They said she got into a car accident. We're not sure how she is right now. She's still in the emergency room," I explained. They nodded understandingly and we took our seats on the couch.

"Hey, did anyone tell Brad?" Max asked out of the blue.

"We didn't, did you guys?" Payson said. The boys shook their heads. Nicky took out his phone quickly and dialed Brad's number.

"Hey, man, you've got to get here quickly. We're at the hospital. Kaylie's been in an accident," Nicky rushed and mumbled a few okays and hung up.

"Austin's not coming, is he?" I asked. The boys shook their heads.

"We could tell he was in shock when he found out. He zoned out and went to another dimension," Nicky clarified.

"Yeah, it must be tough for him, though. He was in this situation before. Remember? When Kaylie fell at Trials? I guess he just didn't want to be in the same situation again," Payson said, "And furthermore, they just broke up. Give them some time, things will become the way it was before again."

We all sat there in silence. Payson had tears rolling down her cheeks. I could feel tears building up in my eyes. I can't cry. I need to be strong for Payson.

"Who's here for Kaylie Cruz?"

We all whipped our heads up and stood up.

"We are," Sasha said solidly. "I'm her coach. These are her best friends and teammates." He said and waved at us. We nodded at the doctor.

"Kaylie will be okay," we all let out our breaths. "She has a minor concussion and a few bruises on her arms and legs. Other than that, she'll be all right. She's sedated right now but you can go see her." We all nodded. "Follow me."

_Brad's POV_

We followed the doctor into the room that Kaylie was lying in. Seeing her there, in the hospital bed made me catch my breath.

"I'll be outside, if you need me," Sasha announced. We all nodded and walked closer towards Kaylie.

"Oh my god. Not again," Payson sighed.

"What do you mean?" I asked. I was confused, what did she mean by "not again"? Has Kaylie been in this situation but I didn't know about it?

"At Worlds Trials, she was on beam and she fainted. She fell and luckily Austin caught her before she impacted the ground. She was in the exact same room, this room," Payson explained.

I just simply nodded. I didn't like the idea that Austin caught Kaylie, but at least it's better than her hitting the ground. I moved towards the bed and sat down and held her hand. I placed a few kisses on the back of her palm.

"Déjà vu, huh, Pay?" Lauren whispered.

"Yeah, a guy by her side. First Austin, now Brad," Payson replied. They all sat down around her and waited.

We sat like that for half an hour but it felt like days. Her fingers twitched.

"Kaylie, can you hear me?" I asked her. She didn't reply. Her fingers twitched again.

"Kaylie?" Lauren and Payson said.

"I'm so sorry," Kaylie finally managed to say, though it came out in slurs.

"It's okay, we're here, babe," I said, gripping her hand harder.

"A-Austin," she twitched, "I'm so sorry." She tilted her head to the side. "I…I love…love you, A-Austin Tucker."

_Austin's POV_

Max and Nicky already rushed off towards the hospital where Kaylie is. I can't believe it. Second time round. I walked up to the fridge and opened it. I looked around for a beer, and finally found one. I opened it and gulped it down. I had to go see her. I have to. I finished my beer and threw it in the bin.

I grabbed my keys from the cabinet and took my leather jacket that was hanging idly on the stairs. I dashed out the door and got into my car. I turned the engine on and stepped on the gas. I arrived at the hospital 10 minutes later, a record for me. I couldn't bring myself to get out of my car. So I just sat there. I could see Sasha pacing backwards and forwards and I could see the rest of my teammates sitting on the couch. A doctor then came and talked to them. I didn't know what he was saying but then they all followed him out of the waiting room. They probably went to see how Kaylie's doing. I finally managed to get myself out of the car and into the hospital.

"Kaylie Cruz. I want to know what room she's in," I demanded the receptionist.

"Miss Cruz is on the 6th floor, third door on the right." Without thanking her, I followed her directions. I got to her room and peeked in the door. I could see all of our friends surrounding and Brad was holding her hand, sitting next to her. Much like the way I sat next to her, waiting for her to wake up. I wanted to go in and sit down on the other side of her and hold her other hand. But I knew I couldn't. I didn't want to face Brad Collins right now. So instead, I leaned against the wall and slid down. I just sat there, waiting.

"Kaylie, can you hear me?" I heard Brad ask her. I sat up straight, waiting for her response but she remained silent.

"Kaylie?" Lauren and Payson said.

"I'm so sorry," Kaylie finally said. I looked around and peeked into the room. I could see her twitching.

"It's okay, we're here, babe," Brad said. _Babe_. I used to call her that when she was mine. Now she was his.

"A-Austin," she stuttered. Upon hearing my name, I stood up and held the doorknob, getting ready to push the door inwards. "I'm so sorry." I saw her tilt her heads sideways. Under my breath, I said, "It's okay, Kaylie."

"I…I love…love you, A-Austin Tucker." That hit me hard. I. Love. You. Austin. Tucker. It hit me like a ton of bricks. I felt my hand grip the doorknob even harder. I saw Brad stare at her, eyes open wide. In your face, Collins. I wanted to go in there and rub it in his face that Kaylie is still mine. But I didn't, not in this situation. She was sedated. She probably won't even remember she said that when she's fully awake. So instead, I turned around and walked out of the hospital.

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><p><strong>P.S.<strong> okay you guys may think this may be a repetition of when Max and Lauren was in a car accident, but its not :) the whole story behind it, as you will find out later, is way different :) so bear with us!

**_PLEASE REVIEW! xx_**


	6. SECOND THOUGHTS

**Chapter 6**

_Austin's POV_

I got home after a slow 30-minute drive from the hospital. _I love you, Austin Tucker_. It replayed in my head. She loves me. I couldn't believe it. She _loves_ me. I got out of my car and walked towards the door. I turned the doorknob and walked in. If she loves me, then why is she with Brad? She must not have loved me as much as she thought she did.

I walked towards the couch and slumped. "I love you, too, Kaylie Cruz," I whispered. I really wanted to be in that room with her. Just sit by her side and hold her hand until she wakes up. But under the current circumstances, I knew it was suicidal. After all, Brad Collins – her boyfriend – just heard her confess her love for someone else, and that someone was _I_. Austin Tucker. Kaylie Cruz loves Austin Tucker.

Should I tell Kaylie what she said? Though, knowing Kaylie, she'll deny it. That's Kaylie Cruz. I have to tell her. Because Brad Collins is going to feed her lies when she wakes up. He wants her all to himself. She was mine in the first place, she deserves to know the truth, and if there is a chance of me getting her back, oh, I am going there. I'll go to her when she gets better and tell her. So I'll head there tomorrow.

_Brad's POV_

My girlfriend, Kaylie Cruz, woke up in a hospital and the first thing she said when she gained consciousness was _I love you, Austin Tucker. _First I thought she was telling me that she loves me but then she called out _Austin Tucker. _Why would she say it? Doesn't she love me or have a slightness of feeling for me? I love her but she doesn't love me back, does she?

I sat by her; she looks so peaceful when she sleeps. I held her hand and hoped that she would wake up soon. I should ask her about what happened when she was unconscious. Should I? I really don't know if I should, what if she doesn't remember and she found out from me? Kaylie's eyes opened and smiled at me.

"Hey, Brad."

"Hey gorgeous."

"You should rest while I'll get you some coffee," I requested.

I smiled and I went out of her hospital room and took a left. I walked towards the vending machine and inserted a quarter. I took a paper cup and pressed the coffee button. I held the coffee cup and started walking back to the room when I noticed Tucker heading to the door too. What was he doing here? Is he trying to talk to Kaylie, _my _girl? He can't.

He can't talk to her; if he does then he will definitely tell her about what happened at the hospital. I should stop him before Kaylie finds out. He can't talk to her before I talk to her. I have to tell her what happened but…not everything.

"Tucker, what are you doing here?" I questioned.

"I'm here to see Kaylie," he replied.

"Kaylie, she's resting. Come back later?" I suggested.

"No. I need to talk to her now," he insisted.

"No. You should come back later."

"Why should I? It's visiting hour," he pointed out.

"Well visiting hour or not. I'm _her _boyfriend," I told him.

"Really? I'm Austin Tucker. I wonder who's more famous?"

"Then I wonder who's more closer to Kaylie right now?"

Austin stared at me when I'm implying that I was closer to Kaylie and that he should leave her alone. SCORE. Austin left without another word and I walked into the room with her cup of coffee.

"Hey here's your cup of coffee," I handed the cup to her.

"Thanks. Did I hear you talking to someone out there?"

"No. Just the nurse, I was wondering when you're supposed to take your pills," I lied.

"Oh, well after lunch. So I heard some rumor about something I said that made everyone's mouths hung open. Before I woke up? I can't remember, care to explain?"

"Oh yeah, it did. It made my jaw drop too."

"What did I say, Brad?" she asked me.

"You said 'I love you' to…me," I lied again. I can't believe I said that but what else should I do?

"I said that? Really? That can't be true," she told me. Did she notice I was lying?

"But you did."

"Right."

I don't think she bought it, I think she knows that she's still in love with Austin. Tucker, the game is still on! Bring it.

_Kaylie's POV_

Brad walked out of the room and thoughts were in my head. Should I talk to him about the rumor I heard from my friends? Lauren and Payson kept asking me 'have you talked to Brad about the thing'? I was so confused. I didn't know what she was talking about. I always asked them what did they mean and they always answered 'just ask Brad'. So I will. I will talk to Brad about it. I heard some chattering outside the door and I wonder whom Brad was talking to. Brad always had a loud voice; it sometimes scared me a little.

He opened the door and walked into the room, he closed the door then head towards me, smiling at me. I should talk about the rumor; it's the right thing. After what happened with Austin, I left him heartbroken then I moved on to Brad right away. I owe this to my boyfriend. My boyfriend. I should be honest.

"Hey here's your cup of coffee," he handed me my cup of coffee.

"Thanks. Did I hear you talking to someone out there?"

"No. Just the nurse, I was wondering when you're supposed to take your pills."

"Oh, well after lunch. So I heard some rumor about something I said that made everyone's mouths hung open. Before I woke up? I can't remember, care to explain?" I began.

"Oh yeah, it did. It made my jaw drop too."

"What did I say, Brad?" I began to worry.

"You said 'I love you' to…me," he said.

"I said that? Really? That can't be true," I couldn't believe I said that. But something isn't right. I don't love him; I love Austin. This can't be right? Did I love him?

"But you did."

"Right," I don't think I actually did say it to him. I think it was meant for Austin. Was he there?

_Austin's POV_

I was heading to Kaylie's hospital room and I saw Brad walking towards me. What did this dick want? I want to talk to Kaylie, not talk to a dick because that would be sheer awkward. That's just wrong.

"Tucker, what are you doing here?" Brad questioned.

"I'm here to see Kaylie," I told him.

"Kaylie, she's resting. Come back later?" he suggested.

"No. I need to talk to her now," I insisted.

"No. You should come back later," he demanded.

"Why should I? It's visiting hour."

"Well visiting hour or not. I'm _her _boyfriend," he pointed out to me.

"Really? I'm Austin Tucker. I wonder who's more famous?" NAILED IT.

"Then I wonder who's more closer to Kaylie right now?"

What did this bastard just say? Oh god no. He's so dead. That bastard. He thinks he's closer to Kaylie. No. I dated Kaylie for 2 months and how long did he date her for? A week and a half. That's not even close to a month. Fine. He won't let me see her during visiting hour. I'll see her after visiting hours! And, I fucking nailed it, again!

I waited till visiting hour ended. I looked at my watch it was 7. I was outside a Chinese restaurant, Crystal Jade. I picked up some pork and rice and paid the cashier. All of them were staring at me, wondering what the Olympic Gold Medalist is doing downtown at this hour, all by himself. I walked to the hospital but then I realized: how would I get in there without being noticed? I can't just walk in there. I saw a stranger walking pass me and I had a plan. Great plan.

"Hey, for 100 bucks I need you to do something for me," I requested.

"Oh my god, you're Austin Tucker," he said. He took the money and nodded.

He walked into the hospital lobby while I hid outside. I had to plan it correctly before I rushed inside and to the elevator. I need another distraction or I'll get caught.

"Hey, for 100 bucks I need you to do something for me," I requested again to a random stranger.

He agreed to do it, so great I have another distraction. Suddenly, I heard the one of the hospital guard shouting, "GET HIM!"

I peaked a little and he had gotten rid of the guards so the path is definitely free. So I tapped the stranger's arm and we opened the glass door and rushed to the elevator and pressed the button. Come on, faster.

_Ding._

Finally, we both rushed in and I pressed the 6th floor button. We waited; I was getting very worried and doubting my plan.

_Ding. _

All right, that's good. I nodded to the other random stranger I didn't bother to learn his name. Oops. Anyways, he then walked out of the elevator and he ran across the counter. The receptionist was shocked and called the security guard then she chased the guy leaving me free. So I rushed to Kaylie's room, no one was here and thank god for that too. Before I opened the door, I thought about what I was going to say. It didn't last long so I went ahead and opened the door.

"AUSTIN! What are you doing here?" she was surprised to see me.

"Kaylie, I need to talk to you. It's important," I began.

"Can't it wait till tomorrow? You can get arrested," she explained.

"No. It can't. It's about what you said when you were regaining your consciousness."

"Yeah, Brad explained it."

Really? He did. Well what didn't he say about me?

"Really? What did he tell you? I can continue from there."

"He said that I said 'I love you' to him."

"He said that? That's not true."

"Then what's your version?"

"You did say 'I love you' but…" I started.

"But what?" she interrupted.

"But it wasn't meant for him. It was meant for…me."

"For you? What makes you think that? I'm over you. You know that right?" she convinced me. We both know she's kidding herself.

"No you didn't. Please just try to remember. I gotta go."

"Alright, I'll try."

"Before I go, I want to tell you that if you remembered what you said, know that I love you, too."

I walked out of the room and started heading to the elevator but before I can get there, the receptionist was back and she noticed me. I was in so much deep shit. Oh boy. Explanation time.

"What are you doing here, young man," she questioned.

"I'm here to see Kaylie Cruz."

"Visiting hours is way over. I'm going to call the police," she threatens.

"No wait, I know it's over visiting hours but I had to see her."

"Why can't it wait? There always tomorrow."

"I had to tell her that I love her," I smiled.

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><p><strong>Author's note: <strong>i hope you enjoyed that chapter (especially you KayAus fans!). bad news is chapter 7 would _not_ be posted tomorrow because my best friend is in bangkok and i'll be at the beach. However, i promise that chapter seven _will_ be posted on sunday afternoon!

**_REVIEWS PLEASE! xx_**


	7. LIES GETS YOU NOWHERE

**Author's note:** i hope you guys enjoyed this after a 2 day hiatus :) sorry about that, we were both on holiday and the file was in my laptop.

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 7<strong>

_Kaylie's POV_

I slept well last night. Austin confessed his love for me, again, and told me the truth that makes me think about things again. Brad Collins and Austin Tucker, which one should I pick, again. It's the same like before. When I was dating Austin, Brad was so cute and honest to me, he was the one who was always there. Now when I am dating Brad, it just seems so different, he's still cute but he's not honest anymore. He lied to me yesterday; thanks to Austin I know the truth. I couldn't love Brad because I don't feel anything when he kissed me yesterday before he left at 7.

He stayed by my side everyday for the whole day. What about practice? Lauren and Payson haven't visited me due to their practice. I hope I can get better with the bruises and then the doctor can check my results and let me go. Brad will stop by today in a few minutes to bring me the hospital breakfast. I wonder what they're serving today. I hope it's not bacon and egg. I swore that egg they gave me yesterday is still raw and the bacon was still undercooked. I then heard a knock on my door. It opened and Brad was peaking through.

"Morning sunshine."

"Brad, you spoil me," I told him.

"So today they're serving omelet with orange juice and jell-o."

"Thanks, you're sweet. That reminded me, I need to talk to you about something. Before I eat my breakfast."

"Sure, what's on your mind, babe?"

He's so sweet. This will break your heart.

"Austin stopped by yesterday and…" I began.

"What? Tucker was here? How? I left at 7 and that was the end of visiting hours."

"Yes, he stopped by and told me everything."

"What did he say?"

"The part when I said 'I love you', I actually said 'I love you, Austin Tucker'," I confessed.

"What?"

"It was meant for Austin Tucker not you."

"He's lying! Kaylie, why would you believe him?"

"Why should I believe you?" I challenged him.

"I'm your boyfriend. We have trust, that's why we're together," he explained.

"Yeah? Well guess what? We don't have trust. We used to. That's why we're not together."

"But…we're…" he began.

"We're not…" I interrupted.

"Are we breaking up?" he asked.

"No. I'm breaking up with you. There was never a we."

"You're kidding me, right?"

He thought I was kidding? Is he a douche or what? He lied and now he's trying to tell me I'm out of my mind for breaking up with him. Who does he think he is? Austin Tucker? Only Austin can do that. Hell! Even Austin can't do that.

"No Brad. I'm not. Are you kidding me for asking me that?"

"I can't believe this."

"Well believe it."

"Kaylie…what did I do to make you break up with me?"

"Do you have to ask? You lied," I couldn't believe this guy. He's cocky _and_ a liar.

"I'm sorry I was…"

"Was what? A liar? That's not even close to what you are right now. You're more of a dickhead than Austin ever was," I pointed out. "Wait, no, you're still one. So you can leave."

Brad didn't say another word and just left. What was his problem? I'm glad I dumped him. I can't believe I dated him either. Austin, I have to tell him. I took my phone out and start texting him.

I need to talk to you. Can you come to the hospital?

_I'm at practice but I'll ask Sasha. _

Thanks, I'll see you later.

_Later. _

Now, all I have to do is wait…

_Austin's POV_

Kaylie wants to meet me now? Talk about bad timing. Why isn't Collins with her? Probably Sasha tried talking to him about slacking off and not practicing gymnastics. So I should go and talk to Kaylie, I'll ask Sasha.

"Coach! I need to talk to you."

"Austin?"

"Kaylie just texted me and told me to come by her hospital now to bring her some lunch. Hospital food made her sick."

"Can you show me a text that ask you to come by? Or are you just slacking off?"

"No. Really. I also want to see her. It sounds important," I explained.

"Alright. Come straight back after."

"Thanks."

I started heading out and I heard Sasha shout out to me, "AUSTIN! GO GET HER!"

I smiled at Sasha and grabbed my duffel bag then walked straight out. I got my keys and climbed into my car. I rushed over to the hospital and asked the valet to park my car. I rushed right over the elevator and pushed the up button. It's taking forever! STAIRS!

I took the stairs and rushed to the 6th floor. Went straight to Kaylie's room. I opened it and walked in. I smiled at her. She's so pretty.

"Hey, gorgeous."

"Austin…we're not together anymore," Kaylie told me. What the hell? I ditched practice and ran up 6 flights of stairs for this? She's kidding, right?

"Then why did you tell me to ditch practice?" I questioned, looking sternly at her. "Did you know I ran up 6 flights of stairs for you?"

"Wait, you did _what_? Why didn't you take the elevator?"

"Because, I wanted to see you as fast as I could. I thought you called me here to tell me that we might have a chance at something. Guess I was wrong," I explained and turned on my heels.

"Wait, Austin," I stopped and turned around. "I wanted to be the first to say this. I broke up with Brad," she confessed.

I was completely shocked and forced myself to say something, "Um…I'm so sorry." Yes. Brad Collins is finally out of this love-triangle issue. Now, I just need to work my magic on Kaylie, again, and get her back.

"Yeah. After you told me the whole story. I had to choose between you or Brad. So I talked to Brad and told him your side of story. I then realized he lied."

So she took my side over Brad? That's fantastic! Oh right, "So you broke up with him? Just like that?"

"Yeah. I can't have a boyfriend that lied to me. Especially when the story was that important. The 'L' word?"

"So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I'm single," she told me. Is she hinting me to make a move on her?

"Congratulations."

"You're wondering about us right?"

"Yeah, I was. I still am," I admitted.

"Well we should just be friends. I just got out of a relationship then I got into another one. I ended up being with a completely lying bastard. Now I don't need another one. Yet."

"Yet. So what are you saying?"

"I'm saying I want to be single for a while."

"I get it. Maybe when you're ready then we'll talk about us."

"Yes, alright. Deal."

So she wants to wait. I respect that; she just got out of a relationship with 'a lying bastard'. I stayed to watch her each her lunch. After she was done, I said good-bye and I left feeling great. I looked at my clock and it's nearly 3. I'm not going back to The Rock so I'll just head to McDonald's. I deserve some slack. Fast food!

I went downstairs and got my keys back from the valet. I got into the car and head off.

_Brad's POV_

I can't believe Kaylie broke up with me. I know I lied but it was for her own good. Okay, not really for her own good, it's more of my own good. But what should I do? Tell her that she's in love with someone else when I was her boyfriend? She was in love with Austin and not me. I couldn't say that. It would break my heart and by not telling her the truth, she broke my heart.

Practice was over and I walked back to Kaylie's. I walked in and my phone rang. It was a text. From Kaylie.

_Since we're not together anymore. You can leave. Out of my house. Go anywhere you want. _I didn't bother to text back, so instead, I walked straight into the guest room and threw all my clothes in my duffel bag.

That's it. That's my cue. I have to leave Boulder.

_Austin's POV_

When I was done with eating at McDonald's, I went straight home. I parked my car outside my lake house and left the keys by the side table of the doorway so that if I needed to go anywhere later, it'll be easy. Nicky and Max probably isn't home yet, so I'll just change and go for a dip in the pool. I rushed upstairs and looked for my blue ripcurl swimming trunks. I was about to get into my bathroom to change but I saw a piece of paper on my bed. It was addressed to me. From who? Brad. So I opened it and began to read it.

_Tucker, _

Of course he would address me as 'Tucker'. I kept on reading.

_I wanted to tell you that I'm leaving Boulder and heading back to Portland. I'm also leaving gymnastics. It gives me so much bad memories but it also gives me some great memories of our friendship and Kaylie._

Really? Kaylie? He's going to mention Kaylie while apologizing to me? Douche. And apparently Brad and I had a "friendship". He was more of a teammate to me, but you know, what the hell.

_Before everything went wrong and before Kaylie and I kissed, you were probably the nicest friend I ever had. But, unfortunately for me, you saw it. I just wanted to tell you I'm sorry. You were my best friend and I ruined it. _

We're best friends? Since when? This guy is delusional.

_Yes, I just wanted to say I'm sorry. When I first arrived in Boulder, you didn't know who I was but still, you let me stay at your lake house. I screwed everything up. I know that. Kaylie loves you and I know you never stopped loving her. And don't ever stop loving her. If you guys do get married in the future, remember to send me an invitation. That's a joke, but you know, if you do decide to forgive me about what happened, then by all means, send me an invitation. _

Now that's funny. He expects me to send him an invitation to my wedding? That's hilarious. Though, thinking about it, I would want to marry Kaylie some day. Kaylie Tucker. Or if she doesn't want to take away her last name, then Kaylie Cruz-Tucker. That's a thought.

_You'll never see me again. Brad._

Thank god. He's a dickhead.

_Kaylie's POV_

I finally got out of the hospital. I'm just waiting for the release while chatting with my two best friends. They finally got some free time and visited me. Great timing! Payson and Lauren are taking me home and we're having a girls' only sleepover.

When we arrived home we were laughing our heads off because of a joke Lauren told us in the car. We headed to my room and before I opened the door, I saw a piece of paper taped to it. I took it and looked at my two best friends.

I showed them the paper and Lauren said, "It's from Brad."

"Read it!" Payson encouraged.

I agreed and I opened my door, holding the letter in my hands. All of just went and sat on the bed and they both nudged me to read it out loud.

"Kaylie, I'm sorry for lying to you about the whole hospital thing. So I decided that I'm leaving Boulder. I screwed up between us…" I began.

"HELL YEAH!" Lauren interrupted.

"Lauren…" Payson told her off.

"I screwed up between us and I want to make things right but I knew you would never forgive me so I decided to leave. I'm sorry. I wish you and Austin the best of luck. You guys deserve each other, I mean; after all you are Gymnastics' Golden Couple. You love him and sure as hell, he loves you, so go for it. You can't let a guy, like me; ruin your relationship with Austin. One last thing, between you and me, don't ever doubt Austin, he's a great guy. He didn't know me and he let me stay in his lake house. I was a complete stranger. I went and screwed that up the night of your party. Kaylie Cruz, I'll always love you; don't forget that. And you'll never see me again. Brad."

I finished reading it and we all looked at each other.

"I can't believe he left," Payson claimed.

"I know. Me too. He was such a dick and now we're running out of dicks," Lauren teased.

Payson nudged Lauren and I laughed. Lauren then said, "What? You know it's true. I'm not saying it's a bad thing."

"What do normal teenagers say in situations like this? LOL? Laugh Out Loud?" Payson asked.

"Yeah. I know. LOL!"

"Well the thing is…WE'RE NOT NORMAL TEENAGERS!" Payson screamed.

"But we are teenagers!"

"The point is…he's out of our life and forever, too."

"I know. That's great!" Lauren shouted. "To be honest, I never really liked Brad anyways, as a friend, I mean. He was an asset to our team, I mean; he's a really good gymnast!"

"Yeah, he was. Too bad he's now an asset of another gym," Payson sighed.

Even though Brad left us, it does feel great. We're all finally happy. I'm finally happy. I hope I'll find my happiness soon, with Austin. I smiled at that thought. Austin Tucker. We all went to bed but I couldn't sleep. I was thinking about Austin and how we're only friends, nothing more. I have to text him; I took my phone out and start texting Austin.

Hey, Austin. Want to go hang out sometime as friends?

_Sure. That's sounds great. Where? When? _

Maybe soon. At the cinema?

_Yeah. Definitely. When?_

Tomorrow, after practice? What's wrong with you?

_Sleepy? _

Sorry I disturbed your beauty sleep.

* * *

><p><strong>PLEASE VOTE FOR JOSIE LOREN FOR FAVE TV ACTRESS AND MAKE IT OR BREAK IT AT THE TEEN CHOICE AWARDS SO OUR DREAMS OF SEASON 3 WILL COME TRUE! (thank you CAROL for reminding us about this!)<strong>

**and lastly, PLEASE REVIEW! xx**


	8. RECONCILIATION

**Chapter 8**

_Kaylie's POV_

I woke up first. I looked to my right and I could see Payson and Lauren still fast asleep. I rubbed my eyes and looked at my clock. It read 9am. Oh crap. Oh crap. Oh crap. It's NINE. Sasha is going to kill us. I didn't even bother to slowly wake Payson and Lauren up, but instead I slapped them.

"What the hell, Kay?" Lauren groggily said.

"Kay, let us sleep. It's still early," Payson said.

"Early? It's nine, NINE. Nine, as in we're 3 hours late to practice! Get up you guys!" I screamed while trying to brush my teeth.

"Oh crap!" Lauren and Payson both shouted while getting out of bed and pulling on their tracksuit. I quickly got out of the bathroom so that Lauren and Payson could brush their teeth and comb their hair. I pulled on my signature pink leotard and wore my tracksuit. We were all done in a record time of 30 minutes. We ran down the stairs and quickly said bye to my dad, who was sitting on the couch watching a baseball game. We grabbed a bag of food that was on the table and out the door we went. We climbed into my car and I quickly turned on the engine.

"Kaylie, hurry up! We're nearly 4 hours late as it is!" Payson cried.

"I'm trying, I'm trying! Calm down! I can't drive with you guys screaming at me!" We finally arrived at The Rock and we were 4 hours late. We all stood outside of The Rock, taking in deep breaths before we get grilled by Sasha.

"Here goes nothing," Lauren whispered. We put our hands on the door and pushed inwards. Of course, Sasha was standing there, on the balcony of his office, staring at us.

"You three, come here, right now!"

"Uh oh," I whispered. I took their hands and held it. We slowly walked towards the office, our heart racing. We got into the office and stood there, we weren't sure if we were welcome to sit down on the couch, considering how furious Sasha is. I swear, I saw smoke come out of his ears and nose.

"Girls, why are you late?" Sasha inquired, staring deadly at us.

"We, uh, well, you see Sasha, we…" Payson began.

"I was let out yesterday and both of them were there to send me home," I helped Payson out.

"And how does that explain you three coming in 4 hours late? You are the elite gymnasts of this gym. You're supposed to set examples."

"We're truly sorry, Sasha. There were some complications at the hospital and I wasn't let out until around 10pm. So by the time we got to my house, we all ate supper and we didn't get into bed until around midnight. We forgot to set the alarm and so we were late."

"Alright, fine, but this is the _last_ time you three will be late, got it?" Sasha demanded.

"Yes, Sasha," we all said in unison.

"Go train, now." We all went out of the office and went down the stairs. We went into the girls' locker room and got changed into our leotards and stuffed our gym bag into our lockers. We walked outside and the first person I saw was Austin Tucker. _My_ Austin Tucker. I smiled and walked up towards him, who was at the water fountain.

"Hey there," I said while filling my own cup of water.

"What's up, Cruz?" he said and I smiled.

"Training," I said and turned around and began to walk towards the uneven bars. "I'll see you later, Tucker." I could hear him smirk.

Practice went by fast and before I knew it, it was the end of training.

I went inside the girls' locker room and took out my bag. Inside was what I was going to wear tonight on my date, no it's not a date, it's a hang out, with Austin. I pulled on my white-sequined tank top and tucked it into my blue DKNY shorts and a Versace blazer.

I walked out of the locker room and I saw Payson and Lauren by the water fountain. I walked up towards them and they looked at me confused.

"Uh, Kay, where are you going?" Payson questioned.

"I have a…uh…a…hang out with Austin Tucker," I told them. Lauren nudged me and Payson smiled.

"Go have fun," Lauren and Payson both said. I smiled back at them and walked out of the gym. I saw Austin Tucker standing by his car that was unsurprisingly situated next to my car. He looked amazing in a laid back Gucci chemise and Guess jeans.

"You ready, Cruz?" I gave him a nod and he opened the door to his car for me. I got in and he followed suit. We arrived at the movie theater 15 minutes later. He bought us tickets to go see Bad Teacher. He bought a tray of nachos and two drinks. We got into cinema 3 and sat in our seats.

The movie hasn't started and there were commercials playing.

"Kaylie, what I said in the hospital, I meant it," Austin said suddenly. It took me by surprise. So he still loves me. I turned towards him and smiled back. I didn't say anything in reply and he kept staring at me. He gave me my favorite smirk and I leaned forward. He leaned in and the next thing I knew, our lips met. What am I doing? Kaylie Cruz, snap out of it. You're _not_ on a date. This is supposed to be friendly. I pulled back from the kiss.

"Uh…I'm sorry," he said, looking confused.

"No, I'm sorry. This was my fault. I shouldn't have leaned in. I, uh, we're…this is supposed to be…"

"Friendly. I know."

"We'll talk about this after the movie, okay? I promise," I said and thankfully, the movie began.

We watched the movie in silent but I couldn't stop thinking about the kiss that happened earlier. When his lips touched mine, I could feel my heart beat faster and a chill ran up my spine. I still love him. I do. And this friendship thing we're trying is not working for me. I can't only be a friend to Austin Tucker. I can't. When the movie ended we walked outside. He dropped our empty nachos tray and cups into the bin. While he did that, I went to sit down on the bench nearby. Once he was done, he sat down next to me.

"Kaylie, about that kiss…"

"Austin, I can't be your friend," I finally muttered.

"What? Then why are we doing this?"

"No. I mean, I can't be your friend. I still have feelings for you. I thought we could be friends but we can't. Well, at least, I can't."

"Kaylie, I can't be your friend either," he said and gave me a smile. "So, what does this mean?"

"Before we label what we are, there's something I have to tell you," I took a deep breath. I know I have to tell him that I lost my virginity to Brad Collins. I have to. I have to tell him the truth.

"What is it?" Austin said, looking at me.

"I lost my virginity to Brad Collins," I said looking down. I didn't want to look at him.

_Austin's POV_

"Before we label what we are, there's something I have to tell you," Kaylie said and she took a deep breath. What does she have to tell me?

"What is it?" I said and held my breath.

"I lost my virginity to Brad Collins," she said, looking down. What? Did I hear that right? She had sex with Brad Collins? Excuse me?

I could feel anger rising up, but in all honesty, I have no reason to judge her. After all, I lost my virginity 3 years ago, when I was 15. So all I did was take a deep breath and put my hand over her hands that were resting on her thighs.

"Kaylie, look at me," she looked up. "It's okay. I mean; I lost mine when I was 15 so I don't judge you. Yes, I was mad in the first few seconds of the news, but then I thought about it. I can't be mad at you for losing it to Brad when I lost mine 3 years ago to someone I wasn't dating. I don't understand why you did it, but I'm not mad," I told her and chuckled.

"I love you, Austin," Kaylie said. Did I hear correctly? She just said she loves me. I stared at her and I could see that her eyes were sincere. She loves me.

"I love you, too, Kaylie," I finally replied and lifted her chin up. I leaned towards her and finally, my lips met hers. After a while, I pulled back and took her hand. "Let's go, _girlfriend_." We walked towards my car and I drove her back to The Rock for her to get her car.

_Kaylie's POV_

"Bye, Austin, I'll see you tomorrow?" He nodded and I gave him a quick kiss. I got out of the car and stood by my Mercedes. I waved goodbye and waited until he was out of plain sight. I got into my car and sighed. Austin was mine again. He's my boyfriend.

"Hey," I said into my phone. "Meet me at mine's in 10 minutes?" I waited for their reply and after a quick bye; I closed my phone and drove home. I got home, and they were already there, waiting for me on the porch. I got out of my car.

"Hey guys," I said.

"Hey," Lauren and Payson said. "So, how was your 'hang' with Austin?" Lauren pressed on.

"Uhm, we're back together now," I said, embarrassed.

"Wait, what?" Payson said. I smiled at them. "Oh my god! Congratulations, Kay!" Payson ran towards me and gave me a hug. Lauren was still sitting there, processing the news, I think.

"Lo, what's wrong?" I asked.

"Don't you guys see?" Lauren asked.

"See what?" Payson and I replied in confusion.

Lauren's head quickly snapped up from the ground, it was as if a bell went off in her head.

"Oh my god! FINALLY!" Lauren screamed. She ran towards Payson and I and gave us a hug and shrieked. "All six of us are finally together with no singles! Don't you see? It's time for a triple date!"

"Triple date?" Payson and I repeated.

"Exactly. Payson and Max, you and Austin and Nicky and I. Triple date to Le Privilege at 7 tomorrow!" Payson and I finally understood what Lauren meant and we all agreed to it.

"There's just one problem," I finally said.

"What? What problem? There's no problem," Lauren said, panicking.

"We have to get the guys to agree to this," Payson understood.

"That's not a problem! We'll just go to the lake house now to tell them!" Lauren said, jumping up and down. We all piled into my car and off we went to Austin's lake house.

_Ding-dong._

The door opened. "Hey girls," Nicky said. "What are you guys doing here?" Nicky moved aside and we all went into the house, sitting us on the couch.

"Go get Austin and Max. We have something to tell you guys," Lauren told her boyfriend after giving him a peck. Nicky went towards the Jacuzzi and called Austin and Max to get in. They all got out of the Jacuzzi and took a towel to dry themselves off. They finally went into the living room. Max went and sat next to Payson and gave her a kiss. Austin sat down next to me and wrapped his arm around me and gave me a kiss on my forehead.

"Okay, why are we all here?" Max questioned.

Lauren jumped out of her seat and clapped her hand. "We're all going on a triple date. Tomorrow. At 7 to Le Privilege."

"What?" the boys all said in unison.

"Oh come on, it's the first time that we're all dating each other and finally, there's no singles. Come on, we're all best friends anyways," Lauren begged. After 10 minutes of us girls explaining to the guys why this was a good idea, they finally caved in.

"Okay, fine, we'll go on this triple date," Austin said, putting his hand up in defeat.

"Yeah, okay," Nicky agreed.

"Fine, looks like we're all decided on this, anyways," Max said lastly.

"Yay! Now, I need to go make reservations!" Lauren excitedly said and moved towards the porch to call Le Privilege. When she got back, we all sat down in the living room. Austin turned on the TV and surprisingly, Worlds was on. We all sat there watching our performances and the boys were laughing at how badly we performed on the first day of Worlds. It was a good night. We shared a dose of laughter and I was finally comfortable. I was comfortable in Austin's arms. At around 10pm, Lauren, Payson and I decided to go home. They sent us out. We all looked at each other and we all did something we were never going to forget.

"AHHHHHHH! OH MY GOD!" we screamed as loud as we can in unison. We started jumping in circles and I could hear the guys sniggering.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> okay, we hope you enjoyed this chapter! :D REMEMBER TO VOTE FOR JOSIE LOREN AND MAKE IT OR BREAK IT!

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	9. THEY'RE TEENS, AFTER ALL

**Chapter 9**

The six elite gymnasts arrived at The Rock at the same time. They all arrived at 5:50am on the dot. They all met up outside The Rock's door. They walked in at the same time and walked straight towards the locker room. The boys drifted into the boys' locker room and the girls skipped in the girls' locker room.

_Lauren's POV_

"Oh my god, you guys, I have the _perfect_ dress for tonight," I said excitedly while getting out of my shorts. "It's black and strapless."

"I don't even know what I'm wearing tonight," Payson said. "I have two top choices, haven't picked which one yet. One's cream and the other one is magenta."

"Cream," Kaylie and I said in unison.

"So, Kaylie, I'm guessing you're wearing Valentino?" Payson asked.

"What? No?" Kaylie said and blushed. "Okay, fine. Yes I am. How did you know?"

"Oh please, Kay. You always wear Valentino with Austin," I said and nudged her. She just smiled and we all walked out of the locker room with smiles on our faces. I could tell that they were as excited about this triple date as I was.

We all sat down on the mats and began to stretch off.

"We have one rule," I began.

"What is it, Lo?" Payson questioned.

"We're not allowed to talk to the guys until they pick us up at Kaylie's for the date."

"Why? I mean, it's just a date," Kaylie shrugged.

"It's more exciting this way!" I yelled a bit too loud. They all nodded.

The whole day passed in a blur. We avoided the guys as best as we could. I could tell the guys were worried as they thought we were mad at them. We all went home after the day and got our dresses. We met at Kaylie's at 5:30 to get ready.

We sat there and talked about what we were going to do on this 'date'. We lost track of time and it was 6:15 and we weren't even ready. The guys would be here in about 45 minutes. We all rushed into Kaylie's room and started stripping down. We first put on our make-up: Payson had a natural eye, with a slight hint of blush and clear lip-gloss. Kaylie had a smoky eye with pink blush and a layer of light pink lipstick. I put on black eye shadow around the edges of my eyes. I put on some MAC blush and red lipstick.

We then got changed into our dresses, Kaylie in an electric purple Valentino dress; Payson in an off-the-shoulder cream Michael Kors frock and myself in a black strapless Charlotte Ronson dress. Kaylie tied half of her hair up and clipped it back with a purple Gucci barrette and curled the ends of her hair to perfection: typical Kaylie Cruz. Payson curled her hair and let it loose. I straightened my hair and pushed my bangs back and held it in place with a Swarovski pin.

We only had 5 minutes before guys arrived. We all rushed downstairs and picked out our shoes from Kaylie's shoe cabinet. Thank god we were all the same size. Payson picked a cream colored Chloe pumps and I chose red Sergio Rossi peep toes. Kaylie took the longest to pick her shoes and she ended up picking black Christian Louboutin platforms.

At exactly 6 o' clock, Kaylie's doorbell rung. We all grabbed our clutches and Kaylie opened the door. Standing there were three incredibly handsome guys in tuxes. Max was wearing a classic 3-piece suit and a graphite shirt and tie; that I knew all belonged to John Varvatos. Austin was wearing, of course, a Valentino tuxedo with a night-blue shirt. My boyfriend wore a two button Ralph Lauren Black label suit and a gunmetal tie. We stepped outside and there was a black limo waiting outside.

"Oh my god, you guys rented a limo?" I asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I mean this is our very first triple date. We've got to set the bar!" Nicky said and gave me a peck on the lips. We all went inside the limo and arrived at Le Privilege 15 minutes later.

"Lauren Tanner," I told the maitre d'. He led us towards our table in the exclusive VIP section. We took our seats and ordered our meals. We were telling jokes and laughing during our wait for our food.

"You guys having fun?" A voice asked us.

"Yeah, thank you," I said and turned around to see who was speaking to us. When I saw whom it was, my eyes opened wide. We. Are. So. Screwed. "Sasha," I managed to utter. The others stopped what they were doing and looked at our coach who was now staring at us with his hands folded.

"Sasha! What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Sasha agreed.

"We're eating dinner with each other. A friendly dinner, you know," I tried to lie.

"Lauren, let's try to keep this honest. Some girls overheard you girls talking and shrieking. They told me about it and I'm here to see if it's true."

"Well I have nothing to say. Jump in anytime guys," I hinted them.

"Right. We have nothing to say too. Lauren?"

Are you kidding me? God. How stupid can they be?

"Alright, we're all on a triple date," I finally confessed.

"LAUREN!" they shouted in unison.

"Oh, so now you guys have something to add," I couldn't believe them, "We're all on triple date because Austin and Kaylie are a couple, again. Nicky and I are together. And last of all are Payson and Max. Ain't no rocket science, right?"

"Yes, ain't no rocket science. So since it isn't rocket science to understand that the four of you, except for Austin and Kaylie, are not allowed to date. Therefore your punishment, all six of you, won't take much rocket science either to understand. Since you guys seem to have been slacking off and Nationals is coming up, you guys will come an hour earlier than everyone else, to train," he explained.

Training at 5? All of our mouths dropped as Sasha told us the bad news.

"The Rock. 5am sharp. Don't be late," he commanded and walked away.

"Oh, great. Training at 5am!" Kaylie squealed.

"It's like a repetition of last year, remember?" Payson said. "After the kegger. God, that was a pain."

"So I guess we all have to go home early so we can go to the gym at freaking 5," Lauren said and slumped in her chair.

"Oh, come on, we can make training fun. Think about it, it'll be like another triple date, but just in the gym and under the watchful eye of Sasha Belov," Max said sarcastically. We all nodded and agreed.

We all ate our dinner and we all went our separate ways at 10pm.

"See you guys at 5 tomorrow."

Oh dear. Tomorrow's going to be a pain-in-the-ass. A full day of training ahead. Great. Just great.

_Sasha's POV_

The next morning, I came to the gym at 4:45am.

What I told them yesterday at dinner was just a fluke. If they all arrived at 5 sharp, then I wasn't going to make them train. I was just going to give them the 'talk' about how gymnasts should not date each other. However, if one of them even comes 5 seconds late, it will be a bad day for all of them.

It was 4:59 and I went out of my office and stood in the middle of the gym. It was 5 o' clock sharp and they all burst into the door. They were all dressed in their tracksuit and obviously, they were ready to train. I chuckled at how innocent they were. They all stood in a line in front of me. I noticed how they were standing couple by couple.

"Good morning Payson, Max, Kaylie, Austin, Lauren and Nicky," I said while looking at each one of them.

"So, how should we begin? Ropes?" Lauren asked. Obviously she remembered of the last time the four elite girls came in after the kegger. I laughed at them.

"You guys all came on time, so no training is necessary until everyone comes in." They all stared at me. "I was joking about you guys coming in to train at 5. Well, if one of you was 5 seconds late, then you would have to train, but since you guys all came on time, no training." They all let out a sigh of relief. "I want you guys to sit down on the mats over there." I walked towards the mats and sat down. They followed me and sat down in front of me.

"As you all know, I allowed Austin and Kaylie to date," they all nodded. "Under one circumstance: that their gymnastics do not suffer." They nodded once again.

"Sasha, we're really sorry about the-" Kaylie began.

"No apology is necessary," I interrupted her. "Max and Payson, Nicky and Lauren, I will also allow you guys to date." I could see Lauren and Payson's faces lit up and Max and Nicky took a deep breath. "However, you guys cannot let this interfere with your gymnastics. At all. If one of you, any one of you six, performs badly because of a relationship problem, then all of you will have to break up. Got it?" They all nodded. "Okay, you guys may go and relax."

"Sasha, can I ask you a question?" I nodded at Lauren. "Will it be okay if you let us off today, tomorrow and Sunday?" I noticed the other five looking at her, confused. They were in the same state as I was.

"May I ask _why_?"

"You know, with Nationals only 2 weeks away, I thought that we would need some time to relax and get away from the pressure and this weekend seemed like the good time to do it."

I understood what Lauren was trying to say. And to be honest, I didn't want to overwork them this week, I was going to let them breathe this week and then the week before Nationals, I'd have them working at 150%.

"What did you have in mind?" I asked her. Her smile grew bigger.

"I was thinking New York."

New York? That was on the other side of the country. Why couldn't she pick California or something? But I had to let them go.

"New York sounds good. You guys may have the weekend off, but be back here at 6am sharp on Monday morning."

"Thank you Sasha!" Lauren yelled and ran towards me and gave me a hug.

_Lauren's POV_

Yes! Oh my god! I couldn't believe Sasha allowed us to go to New York. I pulled them all outside and texted my dad and asked him to book us 6 tickets on the next plane to New York and make hotel arrangements.

"What are you talking about, Lo? Since when are we going to New York?" Payson questioned.

"Oh come on Pay, it's the last time we'll be able to relax and have fun before Nationals' pressure piles up on us. I actually really want to go," Kaylie said. Yes. She was on my side. I could see the guys nodding and murmuring in agreement.

"Okay, fine. Let's go," Payson said.

"Alright, my daddy got us the 10 o' clock flight so now go home and pack. Meet at Denver Airport at 8:30," I said while halfway running towards my car.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> we hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! next chapter will be: "now we're in New York!" hahahaahahaha :D

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	10. A GETAWAY

_New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of_  
><em>There's nothin' you can't do<em>  
><em>Now you're in New York<em>  
><em>These streets will make you feel brand new<em>  
><em>Big lights will inspire you<em>  
><em>Let's hear it for New York, New York,<em>  
><em>New York<em>

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><p><strong>Chapter 10<strong>

_Kaylie's POV_

So Lauren just dropped a bombshell on us that we're going to New York for the weekend and surprisingly, Sasha allowed us to. Sasha Belov, the tough coach, allowed us to ditch 2 days of practice, 2 weeks before Nationals, to go to New York. New York. A state, which is on the other side of the coast.

I arrived home and rushed into the storage room and took out my Louis Vuitton suitcase and brought it upstairs into my room. I ran into my closet and pulled out two pairs of jeans, one skirt and a pair of shorts. I then took out 3 tank tops, 2 t-shirts and 2 dresses. I folded it neatly and put it in my suitcase. I took out my leather boots and crammed it into the luggage. I went into the bathroom and took out some lingerie and my toiletries and stuffed it into the luggage. I was running out of time. I pulled on a pair of white-cropped denim shorts and wore a navy blue Forever 21 top. I took out my black Burberry blazer and rushed out of my room. I ran towards my shoe cabinet and pulled out a pair of Guess sandals and put it into my luggage. I took a pair of summery wedges and quickly strapped it on. I ran back upstairs to take my traditional black Chanel bag and stuffed my passport, my wallet, my camera, my phone and lastly a book into it. I went into my drawer and took out a pair of black Ray Bans and dashed back downstairs. I left my dad a note saying I'll be out of state and the doorbell rang.

I opened the door and there stood my boyfriend, Austin Tucker. I smiled at him. I looked down to see what he was wearing. He was wearing Guess jeans and a black Armani shirt.

"You look nice," I complimented him.

"Nice? I thought I looked hot," I laughed at him.

"Okay, fine, you actually look really hot," I finally confessed.

"You look beautiful, as always," he said and leaned in. We shared a short, but sweet, kiss.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Picking you up, we're going to the airport together," he said and came into my house and took my suitcase and rolled it out. I followed behind him. I closed the door and locked it. I threw the keys into my bag and got into his cherry red Ferrari. He got into the driver's seat.

"I still can't believe you traded your Porsche for this," I giggled.

"What? You don't like it?" he said and turned towards me, his eyebrows scrunched together.

"No I do, its just we had memories with that Porsche," I smiled as I remembered these 'memories'. The best one was probably when we shared that kiss after our first picnic. I pulled down my Ray Bans from on top of my head. He put his Kobalt sunglass on and said, "You ready to rock and roll?" I laughed at his attempt to sound like a rock star. I nodded and he stepped on the gas. A short hour and a half later, we arrived at Denver airport. We parked the car in the long-term parking lot.

We all met up outside of the airport and suddenly, we were blinded with flashes.

"So is it true that you six are all coupled up?" a reporter screamed. We all just nodded in response, trying to cover our eyes from the flashes.

"Where are you guys going? Nationals is only two weeks away!" another reporter shouted.

"We're going to New York for the weekend, you know, get away from the pressure," Lauren explained.

"So can we get some photos of the top three women's and men's gymnasts in the country?" We all stood next to each other and posed for the camera. Austin took my hand and I noticed Max and Nicky doing the same thing: taking Payson and Lauren's hand. We then pushed our way through the gathered crowd and into the airport. The paparazzi followed us inside.

"Can I please have your autograph, Kaylie?" I nodded to the teenager that was in front of me and snapped a picture with her. I noticed fans were crowded around all my best friends and asking for signatures and pictures. I was lost in the sea of people that were around us, screaming our names and holding out papers and pens. Someone took my hand and I looked up and saw that it was Austin. We weaved around the crowd and were finally safe from the commotion.

5 minutes later, the other four joined us. We all walked steadily towards the first class check-in counter and presented our passports.

"Hi, how may I help you?" the check-in lady said and looked up at who she was serving. She froze and we all giggled a little bit.

"Oh my god. I, uh, can I check you guys in?" she asked.

"Yes, please," we all responded and flashed her our brightest smile. Once she was done, she gave us our passports back and gave us our boarding passes and lounge invitations. We all said our thank yous and began to turn around.

"Good luck at Nationals in two weeks!" she yelled at the top of her lungs. We said thank you, again, and proceeded to the scanning area. We stood in line like everyone else and we signed even more autographs for the waiting passengers. Who knew gymnastics was this popular? We finally got through the scanning after 10 minutes in line. We all sat down and put our shoes back on, grabbed our bags and went into the first class lounge.

"I wonder who tipped off our trip," I told them while finding seats in the lounge.

"I may have accidentally sent the press a message saying we're going to New York today," Lauren said and gave us a smile. Of course Lauren would do something like that. But instead of accusing her, we all just sat down and relaxed. The guys went to get some snacks and they came back with a handful of Mars bars. Payson, Lauren and I went to find some salad – we are elite gymnasts after all! – and brought back some US Weekly's and People. We also planned what we are going to do once we arrived in New York and after we settled down in our hotel. We were lost in our conversation and wasn't aware that someone tried to talk to us until he tapped me on the shoulders. I jumped out of my seat and slightly screamed.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Cruz, but your plane boards in five minutes," the waiter said.

"Oh, sorry about that. Yes, thank you for the reminder, we'll get going," I replied. Payson, Lauren and I picked up our bags and walked out of the lounge, with the guys following behind us.

When we got to the gate, everybody was already in line to board the plane. We just sat down and waited a while for the boarding area to clear. People began coming towards us to ask for some pictures, again. We happily took pictures with them and made our way towards the counter. We got on the plane and took our seats in the first class cabin – there were only two free seats that remained empty.

"Everybody, welcome aboard this flight. This is the captain speaking. Before anything else, we, the crew, would like to welcome six Gymnastics National Team members who are here with us on this flight to New York." We could hear clapping from the cabins behind us. We just smiled and laughed.

We finally took off.

Lauren, who was knocking on the back of my seat, woke me up and announced that we arrived in New York. I ran my fingers through my hair and straightened my shirt. We were the first ones off the plane and I pulled on my blazer and Austin wrapped his hand around me. He's an amazing boyfriend. We got to baggage claim and found our luggages and headed towards the exit. We stepped out and the blinding flashes of the paparazzi and screaming fans greeted us. So apparently news has traveled across the country that we'd be here. Great.

I turned towards my best friends and mumbled, "You guys, I don't think our getaway is going to be private anymore." They all murmured in agreement and I silently cursed Lauren for 'accidentally' leaking the news to the press. We made our way towards the limousine that was waiting for us and got in after dropping our bagagges into the trunk. About an hour later, we arrived at the Waldorf Towers that would be our 'hideout' for the weekend. We check in and received our keys. Lauren booked three rooms: one for her and Nicky, one for Payson and Max, and finally one for Austin and I. This was so like Lauren. Our rooms were all on the 29th floor so that made things easy for us.

"Meet at the elevators in 20?" Lauren asked.

"Why? What are we doing? Austin questioned, annoyed. Clearly he wanted to relax. I elbowed him and he cringed.

"Come on! We have a ton of things to do before boot camp begins on Monday!"

"Alright, we'll see you in 20," Payson smiled.

I went into my room first and Austin followed me in, pulling my LV suitcase along with his Armani suitcase. He placed it on the floor and I rushed to open it. I took out my toiletries along with a Gucci navy-blue tight skirt and a loose, silky white Mango tank. I ran into the bathroom and Austin collapsed onto the one king size bed – courtesy of Lauren Tanner.

I turned on the hot water and stepped inside. My muscles instantly relaxed on impact and I let out a sigh. After thoroughly washing my hair and showering, I got out, wrapped my body in the complimentary towels and headed towards the sink. I turned on the hair dryer and let it evaporate the waters on my hair. After a solid eight minutes, my hair was fully dry and I took off the towel. I put on my under garments, then my white tank and lastly, my skirt. I tucked the shirt in and raised my arms so that the tank was nicely tucked. I put on a layer of mascara and walked out of the bathroom. Austin was already changed: a navy-blue chemise and Dolce & Gabbana jeans. His hair was perfectly gelled. I smiled at him and he came towards me. He wrapped his hands around my waist and pulled me in.

"You look absolutely stunning, Cruz," he whispered into my ears. I pulled back and quickly kissed him.

"You look very hot, Tucker," I replied. I pulled on my leather boots, zipped it up and took my Burberry blazer off the hanger. I grabbed my Chanel bag and out the door we went.

We started off in Times Square and quickly made our way to Soho. During the whole trip, we signed countless autographs and took unending streams of photos. My hand felt numb from all the signing. The weather was getting colder, thank god for my blazer. For dinner, we went to Le Bernardin, and thankfully we were all dressed appropriately. Most of the people there were in suits and designer dresses. Dinner ended early and we were getting ready to go back to the hotel.

"Guys, we should go to a club, enjoy our getaway," Austin suggested. I honestly wanted to go, I've never been clubbing, _ever_. We all agreed and headed to the nearest club. Austin was apparently a VIP at this club.

We ordered our first round of tequila shots and then another round. After the fourth round, I started to get really hyped up and my heart was racing. I took Payson and Lauren, who, like me, were also on the verge of getting drunk. It's amazing how the guys are handling their alcohol level really well, they were still perfectly fine. We girls squeezed our bodies into the mass of people that were on the dance floor and swayed our hips and put our hands in the air. The lights were hypnotizing and I was lost in this other world. Suddenly, I felt a pair of arms find their way around my hips and I turned around, and bumped into Austin. I relaxed and turned back around: my back solidly against his front. Our bodies seem to fit together, like puzzle pieces, and our hips moved in unison.

I could see Lauren doing the same thing as I was, but it wasn't Nicky that was behind her, it was a stranger. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nicky tense and stared at his girlfriend who is grinding someone else. I didn't want to ruin my night so instead; I led Austin off the dance floor and towards the bar. I ordered six vodka shots; three for him and three for me. I finished my shots quicker than Austin did and when he was done, he just stared at me. I asked the bartender for a shot of anything, I told him to surprise me. He brought out a shot that had three levels of different alcohol – which I later learnt was called a B52. I tipped it into my mouth and my throat burned. It felt good. I went and sat on Austin's lap and asked for more shots – I wasn't going to end my party any time soon.

"Babe, you should slow down on the alcohol," Austin said into my ear while holding my hands away from the shots that were placed in front f me.

"When am I going to be able to do this ever again?" I answered him and gave him my puppy dog eyes. He caved in and allowed me to have my drinks. The others joined us at the bar and I could see Lauren and Payson needed Nicky and Max's help to stand straight. They took their seats.

"How come you guys aren't drunk yet?" Payson asked the boys but her words came out in slurs. Max understood and just told her, "We didn't have as many drinks as you girls did. Also, we're guys and we handle alcohol better than girls do." He gave Austin and Nicky high-fives. Austin whispered something to the boys and I felt his weight shift under me. He cradled me and we went outside – I knew that because suddenly the sound of the blaring music was so distant and there were no flashing lights. We got into the limo and I lied down, my head on Austin's lap. He brushed stray strands of my hair out of my face and gave me a kiss on my forehead. I'm glad I get to call him mine. Again. He may be gymnastics' Bad Boy, but to me, he is the best boyfriend. I didn't know what time we got back into our rooms but apparently we had a slumber party – Nicky, Lauren, Payson and Max all crashed in my room.

The next morning, I woke up and looked at the clock on the table; it read 11am. My head throbbed and I walked into the bathroom. So this is what a deadly hangover feels like; it sucks. I brushed my teeth and splashed cold water on my face. It woke me up a little bit. I was still wearing what I wore last night. When I got out, I saw that Payson and Lauren were both up and holding their fingers to their temples.

"You guys want to go grab some food and cure this killer headache?" I asked them. They nodded and I gave them time to brush their teeth and fix their hair. When they go out, they went back into their rooms to change. I stripped out of my navy-blue skirt and white tank and put on my J Brand purple jeans and a black Michael Kors tank that was neatly tucked into my jeans. Before I went out of my room, I grabbed the only blazer I brought along, my Chanel purse and closed the door behind me. 10 minutes later we went downstairs and ordered some Schweppes soda and some sandwiches. We ate it and our headaches lightened a little.

We went to the pharmacy nearby and bought some Panadol and drank it. Our headaches were better and we headed to Manhattan Mall and treated ourselves to a shopping spree.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> okaay, so we hope you enjoyed this chapter that took place in New York! :) more New York coming next chapter ;)

we only got 4 reviews for chapter 9 :( WHERE IS THE LOVE? and thank you swim781 for the constant reviews! we love you :) _**PLEASE REVIEW!_ xx_**_


	11. LOST GIRLS

**Chapter 11**

_Austin's POV_

I woke up and the girls were nowhere to be found. I was in the panic mode and so I punched the guys awake. They woke up with a moan and started to twist and turn and went back to sleep again. Oh. Guys. If they knew what happened to the girls they would probably freak out like a bunch of girls. I punched them again, harder. Another punch and this time, it was even harder than the previous. Now Max yelled 'OW' but Nicky was still asleep. I was getting tired and bored of this. I then just stood up and fixed myself, to look more presentable. Not in a gay ass way like Brad Collins but in a hot way for Kaylie Cruz.

I walked back to the bed and gave them another punch and yelled, "DUDE, WAKE UP!"

Finally, they woke up and I told them that I would call room service to bring our breakfast while they get themselves ready and look more presentable like me. I picked up the hotel and pressed 1 and waited.

"_Hello?" _the receptionist asked.

"May I have room service, please?" I questioned.

"_What would you like to have?" _

"May I have 3 breakfast special?"

"_3 breakfast special," _she repeats.

"Thank you," I said and then hung up the phone.

While I was on the phone the guys was getting ready. They were still getting ready so I waited for the breakfast special. I was starving. This headache is getting worst. I just really need to find a cure to this headache. I should try to call the girls and tell the guys later. I took my cell phone and search through my contacts and clicked on Kaylie. I put the phone by my ear.

I waited. Waited. Still waiting. No one was picking up. Where are they? I was panicking but now I'm beginning to worry. I also reserved a table at The Empire Hotel for tonight dinner for Kaylie and me. If she forgets about it that would really be a date disaster. How long does it take to get ready and be hot as me? TRICK QUESTION. A very long time, obviously.

"You guys, what is taking so long? Nicky don't you need to reserve a table for tonight?"

"Oh, yeah. Can you reserve it at the Palace? For Lauren and I," Nicky told me.

"Why? Something special?"

"Yeah. Our anniversary. 1 month."

"Congratulations, dude."

I am actually happy for them. It's their 1-month anniversary and they've been great ever since Lauren realized that she likes Nicky.

They were finally ready and they came back into the living room. Our breakfast specials had arrived. We all sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. ESPN was on and a football game was playing.

"Girls still sleeping?" Max asked while stuffing himself with the pancakes. Oh crap. I forgot to tell them.

"Uh, when I woke up, they were all gone," I told them sternly, looking at their face to see their expressions. They stayed silent for a while, taking in the news I just told them then panic flew across their faces. We all reached for our phones simultaneously and dialed our girlfriend's number. No one seems to be picking up as we were all sitting there, tapping our feet against the ground. I suddenly heard Kaylie's ring-tone faintly in the background. I got up and followed the music and found it in the closet; next to Payson and Lauren's phone. I hung up and walked back into the living room.

"Crap you guys, their phones are in the closet," I told them, pointing at the closet. They both hung up.

"Where do you think they are?" Nicky asked, now getting nervous.

"Downstairs at the buffet, maybe?" Max asked. We all got up at once and went into the elevator. We rushed out of the elevator and ran towards the maitre d'.

"Did you happen to see three girls walk in here this morning? Two blondes and a brunette. All petite. You may know who they are?" I asked him.

He gave me a confused look and said, "May I have the names of these three? I may help you if I knew who you were talking about."

I was shocked. He doesn't know who I am. Everybody knows who I am; I am the 2008 Olympic Gold Medalist. I am Mr. Kobalt for crying out loud. I slammed my hands on his podium.

"I'm Austin Tucker," I said and looked at the maitre d' straight in the eye.

The maitre d' jumped a little and his eyes were now wide open. "Oh my god. I'm sorry, Mr. Tucker. Are you looking for Ms. Cruz, Ms. Tanner and Ms. Keeler?"

"Yes, we are," I said back to him.

"They came in here at around 11:30am and ordered a few sandwiches and some Schweppes. They left right after they finished, at around 12 on the dot."

"Do you know where they went?" Nicky pressed on.

"No, I'm sorry. I've been standing here for the past few hours." We nodded and went back into the elevator and punched the ground floor button. We got out and we went straight to the reception.

"Mr. Tucker, Mr. Russo, Mr. Spencer," the receptionist said and nodded at each one of us. "How may I help you?"

"We need to know where our girlfriends went," Max demanded, getting impatient.

"They left the hotel at 12 and the valets saw them going into a pharmacy. We do not know where they may be at this moment," he said.

"Can you get our car around? We need to go look for them," Nicky said and the receptionist nodded and picked up the phone. We walked outside of the hotel and our limo was waiting for us.

_Kaylie's POV_

"Does anyone have their phone on them? I left mine in the closet when I got changed," I asked Payson and Lauren. We were holding too many shopping bags and our legs were beginning to tire. After all, we were walking all around Manhattan Mall and I didn't have my phone to call the limo driver.

"Yeah, I do," Payson said and started rummaging in her bag. "Crap, left it in the hotel."

"Me too, I don't have my phone," Lauren said. We were in the city with no phone, and our boyfriends are probably still sleeping. We just stood there with our sea of shopping bags and just stared at the passing traffic.

"Rock rebels, may we please have a few shots of you guys in Manhattan?"

We three turned to look at the people who were now surrounding us. There was a good deal of reporters and photographers and a lot of fans. People were shouting and shoving books and pens into our faces. We took a step away from the wave of books. We turned towards the reporters and posed for the photos. We plastered on smiles that would usually win us the affection of the crowd after our routines. We walked up to some of the fans and gave them what they wanted – photos and signatures. After about an hour, the fans dispersed but the reporters remained there.

"Where are your boyfriends?" a reporter asked us.

"Probably still in bed," Lauren said and we all giggled. The reporters were now even more curious.

"Why is that?"

"We stayed out late last night and the guys were all – well, you know how they are," Lauren explained. I gave her _the look_. She should not have said that. Now the reporters are going to pressure us into telling them what we did last night.

"What did you guys do last night?" one asked. Bingo. My two best friends looked at me and urged me to say something. What am I going to say? We went to a club where I got totally trashed? Yeah, that will be some hit news.

"We just went to dinner and we stayed out until around 4," I told them casually. This time, it was the reporter's turn to laugh. Shit. They know.

"We heard you all were out at a club," a female reporter said and shoved the recorder into our faces.

"Yes, we did. It was a good night," Lauren faintly said and we all smiled, reminiscing about last night.

"But now, we have to go. So if you'll excuse us," I said and waved the reporters off. We picked up our shopping bags and flagged down a cab. The photographers continued taking pictures and we told the driver to take us to Waldorf Towers. He agreed and we arrived back at the hotel. We struggled with all our bags and the doormen helped us. They brought the bags up to my room and we all sat on the bed and sorted through our new buys.

"So, what are you guys going to wear tonight? You know, for the 'surprise' dinner?" I asked them, sifting through my BCBG bag.

"I'm going to wear this," Lauren lifted up a tight Versace frock, "And this," she said and dug out her new nude Manolos.

"I'm probably going to wear my new turquoise Chloe dress and the Jessica Simpson pumps," Payson said. "What about you, Kay?"

"Me? Well, I'm wearing the strapless silver Monique Lhuillier dress with the sequined bustier. I'm probably going to wear the black Brian Atwood pumps," I replied and admired the silver dress in front of me. We continued looking at our new stuff and tried to stuff as much as we could into our already-full luggages. We all went back into our own rooms and showered, it was already 5pm and we were having dinner at 6:30.

I got out of the shower and wrapped a towel around me and another one around my hair. I walked towards the closet, opened the door and took my phone out. I unlocked it and saw that I had 10 missed calls – all from Austin. I listened to the voice mail he left me: _"Kaylie, where are you? I woke up and you girls were all gone. Nicky, Max and I are all over the place looking for you guys. Call me when you get this. In case you forgot, we're eating dinner at the Empire Hotel at 6:30. See you soon, love you."_ I'm not going to reply to him. I'm going to surprise him. I know he's going to worry, but how often do you get to see Austin Tucker, Mr. Kobalt, worry? So instead, I went back into the bathroom and dried my hair. I decided to naturally let my hair down today and wear a Chloe's headband I just bought this afternoon. It was only 5:45 so I sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. I flipped through the channels and found America's Next Top Model was on. I began watching it and forgot about the time. When I looked at my phone, it already read 6:20. I wasn't even wearing any make-up yet. I got up quickly and ran into the bathroom, nearly slipping due to the wet floor. I gave myself a smoky eye and layered some mascara onto my eyelashes. I dabbed some blush onto my cheeks and applied some lip-gloss. I went out and slipped into my silver dress and strapped on my pumps. I took out the new metallic-colored Cavalli clutch and put in my lip-gloss, my phone and my wallet. I looked at the time and it was 6:40. I was already 10 minutes late. Austin is going to kill me. I rushed out the door and went downstairs. A limo was there to pick me up and I got in.

I arrived at the Empire Hotel a short time later and the doorman opened the car door. I got out and felt a shiver go down my spine. The temperature had dropped and I decided to forget my blazer in the hotel tonight, out of all nights. I rushed into the hotel and found the restaurant.

"Can I help you?" The maitre d' asked me.

"Um, yeah. It's under my boyfriend's name? Austin Tucker," I told him, still shivering from the cold.

"Oh yes, Ms. Cruz, right this way," he led me to a private room and I saw a table for two set in the middle of the room. The lights were off and there were a few hundred candles that lit up the room. There Austin was, in dashing Valentino, next to the table holding a bouquet of red roses. I smiled at him and stepped towards him and accepted the flowers.

"You're late," Austin said and wrapped his hands around my waist.

"Yeah, I know, I'm sorry. At least I'm here aren't I?" I said and draped my hands around his neck. He leaned in and kissed me.

_Payson's POV_

"Where are we going, Max?"

"Alain Ducasse at the Essex House Restaurant," he answered.

"What? That's a really expensive restaurant."

"I know, it's a special date," Max told me.

Why? What kind of special date? Is he alright? Is he hiding something from me? I was getting the idea that he's doing this out of guilt. Or what? I'll go with him to the dinner and talk about this. So I took his hand and smiled at him, I'm glad to have a boyfriend like Max. He's such a sweet and caring guy. I landed him and beat Lauren, even though she's one of my best friends. The three musketeers, like she always said.

We climbed into the rented limo and chauffeur drove to the expensive, too expensive, restaurant. I'm glad that he's enjoying himself. During the ride, Max was nervous and I was getting worried about him. I'll just ask him about that later, not to ruin the mood. We arrived and he got out faster than I did. I was confused; he rushed to my side of the door and opened it. I was stunned. He's cute, sweet and a gentlemen. He's a catch.

"Why thank you," I thanked him.

He led me to the table he reserved and he sat me down. I was pleased and impressed. He flicked his hand and a waiter came over giving us the menu. I looked through and already picked out what I wanted to each: appetizer, main course and dessert. I was waiting for Max. Finally he ordered.

"For appetizer may I have Soufflé au Fromage, the main course I would love Terrine de Saumon aux Epinards and for the dessert, we'll share Gratin de Fruits Rouges. What do you want, Payson?" he ordered.

"Oh right. For me I would like Mousse de Foies de Volaille," I told him.

"What do you want for the main course, Madame?" the French waiter asked me with a really weird accent.

"I would like the Aile de Raie aux Capres for the main course. Dessert? I'm sharing with my boyfriend."

"What would you both like to drink?" the French waiter asked us, again with the accent.

"Sweet white wine, please."

"White wine?" I asked.

"Yeah, it's the best here."

"How would you know, Max?" I asked.

"My parents recommended it to me when I asked."

"You asked? As in you told them we were going on a date?"

"No, I was just asking them which French wine is better for a date in a French restaurant. No big deal," he explained.

I was just wondering what else does he tell his parents. Why does he tell them? I'll just drop the topic just incase something goes wrong on this expensive date. I wonder what the others are doing on their dates. Mine? Just great.

Thank god. Our food is here.

_Lauren's POV_

Nicky told our chauffeur to head to the Palace. Nicky was holding my hand and I can feel my heart skip a beat. Speaking of heart skipping a beat, I heard from Payson and Kaylie about me grinding on some guy. I'm not looking forward for this conversation about the whole 'grinding' situation. It wasn't my fault I was really drunk. I wasn't thinking about the whole situation. This whole trip was the best thing ever. I can't believe we're in New York. We went on a shopping spree and went to a bar dancing, drinking, hanging. It felt free and good. Now, Nicky and I will have to talk about this whole conversation. The topic is "grinding on a guy while your boyfriend is at the bar and looking at you"; being all jealous. That's kind of cute and hot in a way but…no. I can't, I have to be serious about this. I was wrong and I'll tell him that.

We arrived and we headed into the hotel and went to the table he reserved. He's great and I'm going to apologize. I just hope he will forgive me about the whole grinding thing. He sat me down and I was getting worried.

"I was meaning to talk to you about the whole situation yesterday," he started.

"Nicky, I know what you're about to say. It's about the grinding on a complete stranger."

"Yeah. What were you thinking?" he asked me.

"I wasn't. I was drunk."

"That's no excuse, I'm your boyfriend. No wonder Carter dumped you for Denver _and_ Kelly."

No. He did not say that.

"EXCUSE ME?"

"Sorry but it is true."

What was he trying to tell me? That I'm cheating on him?

He explained to me, "I'm sorry but it's not like you were thinking when you made Carter cheat on Kaylie, right?"

"EXCUSE ME! Nicky, you're not making this any better."

"You're not apologizing to me about grinding on someone!"

"I should be the one who's apologizing?" I challenged him.

"Yes. Of course!"

"Well then you should apologize to me when you don't want to be dumped!" I shouted, "Good bye!"

I walked right out of the hotel and I was thinking how to get back to the tower. I took the limo and told him to get me back to the Waldorf Towers. I arrived and headed to the suite. I rushed to the elevator and thought of Nicky. Did I break his heart? Or did he break mine?

_Ding._

The elevator opened and I walked to the suite and unlocked the door. I went in, packed my stuff and went back down. I called for the limo and climbed in. I didn't know what I was doing. I was just upset and so I decided that I couldn't talk to him.

"Where to, miss?"

"To the airport," I told him.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> We hope you enjoyed this chapter :) what do you think is going to happen in the next chapterrr? ;)

**_PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! xx :)_**


	12. PERFECTION

**Chapter 12**

_Nicky's POV_

Lauren ran out on me. I wasn't the one who did anything wrong. Okay, maybe I did push her buttons when I mentioned Carter Anderson and the whole circus. I have to go apologize to her, don't I? I told the waiter to cancel our order and he angrily agreed. I left a 20 dollar bill on the table and walked out. I was looking for my limo but it was nowhere to be seen. Of course, Lauren took it. I put my hand up and a taxi stopped in front of me.

"Waldorf Towers and step on it," I demanded the cab driver. I arrived at the hotel and dashed upstairs. I unlocked our suite and walked in. I could see that her shoes were gone. I looked everywhere in the one-bedroom apartment for her. Not in the bathroom, not in the living room, not in bed. I looked in the closet and her Louis Vuitton luggage was gone. I went to the phone and dialed 1.

"_Mr. Russo, how may I help you?"_

"Do you know where Lauren Tanner went?" I asked him.

"_Yes, she's on the way to the airport right now. She's catching the next flight out of New York to Denver, Colorado."_

Crap. She went home. "Thank you," I told him and hung up.

_Lauren's gone. Back to Boulder._ I typed into my phone and sent the message to both Austin and Max. I debated on whether or not to text it to Kaylie and Payson and then I remembered that they would probably kill me for Lauren's sudden flight home.

_Be back soon._ Max replied to my text. I calmed down a little bit. I need my bros right now.

_Paying the bill. Back soon._ Austin's text read.

_Max's POV_

_Lauren's gone. Back to Boulder_. I read Nicky's text and my eyes grew wider. I could feel Payson's eyes on me. I typed in my reply to Nicky: _Be back soon_.

"What's wrong, Max?" Payson questioned.

"Uh, Nicky just told me that Lauren's gone back to Boulder," I told her.

"Wait, what? Why?" Payson responded. "We have to get back, like, _now_." She raised her hand and asked for the bill.

_Austin's POV_

_Lauren's gone. Back to Boulder._ I knew that Nicky was going to confront Lauren about the whole grinding thing, but the fact that she's now gone, well, Nicky must have said some pretty bad stuff.

"Austin?" Kaylie called out my name and I snapped my head up.

"Yeah, uh, just a text from Nicky."

"So, how'd the whole conversation go?" Kaylie questioned, crossing her hands on the table, as she was finished with dessert.

"She's gone," I said and looked at Kaylie. Sure she was going to be surprised about this. Lauren Tanner does _not_ run away.

"Yeah I figured. I'll just talk to her back in the suite," Kaylie said and sat back in her chair.

Wait. She thinks Lauren's still in New York? "Kaylie, Lauren, she's not…in the hotel."

"Oh? Well she'll be back. And when she does, I'll talk to her," she smiled and ran her hand through her hair.

"No, Kaylie. You don't seem to understand. She's not in New York. She's on her way back to Boulder." Kaylie just kept staring at me.

_Paying the bill. Back soon._ I sent the reply to Nicky.

"Kaylie, are you okay?" She seems to be lost in another world. She wasn't here in the restaurant with me. "Kaylie!" I called her name again. She's still not responding to me. I didn't even wait for the waiter to come back with the bill but I knew how much the dinner cost. I took out my wallet and took out five one-hundred dollar bills. I called the chauffeur, got up and pulled Kaylie out of her seat.

"Kaylie, talk to me," I told her.

"I need to talk to Nicky," she coldly said.

"I figured. The car's outside, let's go," I ushered her out.

_Nicky's POV_

I was pacing back and forth in my suite with my phone in hand. I've tried calling Lauren a million times but her phone is off. It's either she's flying or she doesn't want to talk to me. I hear knocking, no, it was more like _banging_, on my door. I walked towards it and opened it. I saw four teenagers: two females and two males. The girls were furious and I could feel the heat of their anger crawling up my skin.

"What did you do?" the brunette said through gritted teeth.

I automatically raised my hand up and looked at her. "I may have mentioned Carter and how he ditched her for Denver and Kelly. And how he cheated on you with her."

The two girls got even more furious and the two guys behind them stared at me with disbelief.

"Dude, that's low, really low," Max sighed. Austin just stood there, shaking his head and resting his hands on Kaylie's shoulder, probably to restrain her for coming right at me and mauling me over.

"Yeah I know, but I was caught in the moment. She didn't even apologize about the grinding mishap either!"

"That's because you mentioned Carter _frickin_ Anderson!" Payson spat in my face, her hands curling and forming fists. "That wound has not been healed!" I backed into my room a little bit and the four took that as an invitation to come in.

"I know, and now she's gone. She didn't even let me explain!" I said defensively.

"Nicky Russo!" Kaylie yelled. Many would be surprised by how loud she can be – after all, she's an elite gymnast and a petite brunette.

"Okay, okay! I'm sorry I mentioned Car – uh – him. It slipped out!" I said in defeat. Kaylie and Payson seemed to have let some of their anger go and settled in the couch, legs crossed.

"Kaylie, what are you doing?" Austin asked. I looked at her and saw that she had her phone out, pressing furiously at the mini keyboard on her Blackberry. She didn't hear Austin, as she didn't do so much as look up.

"Kaylie," Payson said in a softer tone. She didn't respond either. I walked closer to her but her eyes were still glued to her phone screen.

"Princess?" I called out to her. Her head snapped up abruptly. I could feel Austin's eyes, burning through my skin. "Princess, are you writing an essay?" I tried to lighten the mood.

She put her head back down and resumed typing. After a while, she put her phone down and looked at us and smiled. "I'm good. Russo, don't _ever_ call me that again."

"We should call it a night, guys. Our plane leaves tomorrow morning. We should get some rest and pack. See you all in the morning," Max said. The four got up and went back to their rooms.

In the morning, I woke up and got ready to go to the airport. At 10am, we all met in front of the elevators, with our luggage in tow. We decided to skip breakfast as we were going to grab some snacks in the lounge anyways. The girls checked us out of the hotel while we put the luggage in the trunk of the limo. There were, of course, paparazzi outside the hotel.

"Nicky Russo, we heard that Lauren Tanner went back to Boulder yesterday, is that true?" a reporter questioned.

"Yes, she left yesterday due to family events," I lied and gave them a smile. They seemed to believe me as they changed the topic. We three got in the car and waited for the girls' arrival. They took ages. I peeked out the window, and there they were, signing autographs for fans. God. Can't they just get in here already?

"Keeler! Cruz! We've got a plane to catch!" I shouted out the window, impatient. They grunted but finally got in the car. We headed straight to JFK, and so did the paparazzi, and went straight to check-in.

We're finally back in Boulder and I know the first thing I have to do is go talk to Lauren, hopefully she's calmer now and will actually talk to me. She's still not picking up her phone. When we got out of the airport, I put on my sunglasses and went straight to my car, ignoring any and all fans and reporters. Kaylie, Austin, Max and Payson hung back to mingle with fans and answer the reporters' questions.

First stop: Tanner mansion.

_Ding-dong_. I waited for the door to open. After the fifth time I pressed the doorbell, Lauren finally opened the door. When she saw me, she closed the door in my face, but thankfully, I stopped it.

"Lauren, let me explain."

"Okay, fine, what do you want, Nicky?" she said and crossed her arms.

"I'm sorry about the Carter comment, I wasn't thinking. I was pissed off at you for grinding another guy and it just slipped out of my mouth."

"Yeah, I figured as much," she said, clearly unenthusiastic about having this conversation.

"Therefore, I apologize for me acting like a jerk last night. I didn't mean to. I'm sorry, Lo," I told her and looked at her. She softened a little bit.

"I'm sorry that I grinded someone and didn't apologize last night. So here, I'm sorry," she said and moved aside, allowing me to come in. I stayed at her house and we turned on the TV. We didn't watch it as I told her about Kaylie and Payson's reactions and she just laughed. She's lucky to have friends like them.

_Kaylie's POV_

I woke up earlier than usual this morning; the sun wasn't even up. I looked at my bedside clock and saw that it was only 4am. I couldn't go back to sleep so instead, I just sat up in my bed and sifted through the photos I took while we were in New York. I took out my laptop and plugged my camera in. I transferred all the photos onto it and sent it to my father's assistant, telling her to print the photos for me. After they were developed, I'd pin them on my photo wall. It was 5am and I got out of bed and took a quick shower. This week is going to be hell – Sasha's going to work us like a machine. I put on my leotard and pulled over my tracksuit. I pulled my hair back into a slick ponytail and headed downstairs.

I walked into the kitchen and someone was standing there, he turned around and a smile spread across my face. "Leo!" I screamed and lunged towards him, attacking him to the ground. He laughed and I gave him a huge hug. My brother's back, but why?

"Leo, what are you doing here?" I finally asked once we both got back on our feet.

"How could I miss my little sister going to boot camp?" I laughed at that. "And plus, I'm on break so here I am. I missed you," he said and slung his arms around my shoulders. He cooked us breakfast which consisted of toasted bread and some omelets. Finishing up my breakfast, I took out my car keys from the cupboard and picked up my gym bag. "Gotta go, Leo. I'll see you after practice," I told him over my shoulders. I arrived at The Rock and saw that Austin, Max and Nicky were all already there. I look behind me and there I saw Payson, in her new Audi from her sponsors, and Lauren parking their cars. I waited for them and we all walked into The Rock together. We saw Sasha standing on the balcony of his office. We all went into the girls' locker room, dropped our bags and stripped out of our tracksuits. We walked outside and the guys were leaning against the wall, waiting for us.

"Aren't you guys supposed to be training?" I asked them. They nodded.

"Yeah, but Sasha wants to talk to all of us," Max explained. We all walked up the short flight of stairs and went inside the double-glass sliding door.

"Sasha, you wanted to talk to us?" Austin questioned.

"Yes, well, welcome back. I hope you guys had a relaxing weekend. But now, I need you all to be in competition mode. Nationals are next weekend and you six are the best in the country so everyone expects you to do well. Especially Kaylie and Austin. You guys are the current National Champion and everyone is expecting you to retain your title. Get out there, and train your hearts out." We all nodded and filed outside. I went straight to floor, Payson on bars and Lauren on beam. Austin went to floor, Max on rings and Nicky on the pommel horse. We all began our routines at the same time and when we were done, we all looked at Sasha, who was still standing, again, on the balcony of his office. He gave us all a bright smile and nodded his head. We all executed our routines perfectly.

The rest of the week seemed to fly back quickly. We all did exceptionally well and Sasha was happy enough as to send us six home early on Saturday. We all decided to go to Spruce Juice.

"You guys, I think we're ready for Nationals," I told them while taking our seat.

"Yeah, I think so, too. I've never seen Sasha this happy. Well, okay, I've seen him this happy. When we all got on the National team last year, when Payson got accepted on the Worlds team and at Worlds," Lauren agreed.

"I know. Nationals are in exactly one week. I think we're all going to blow the competition away," Payson said and sat back in her seat.

I was beginning to feel the pressure to catch up to me. My heart began racing. What if I couldn't retain my title and someone else wins it? Would everything that had happened be worth it? I smiled faintly at them and resumed sipping on my drink.

The weekend ended too early. I could barely sleep last night, as all I could think of was Nationals on Saturday. I went straight to The Rock; I didn't care if I was an hour early. I got in and changed into my leo. I went straight to the vaults and began running down the runway. I did my front handspring and then I pushed off the vault as strong as I could. I landed my 3 and ½ twists but it was not solid, I took a large step forward. I walked back to the beginning of the runway. "Calm down, Kaylie. You can do this, you've done this so many times before," I whispered to myself. I repeated my vault and the same thing happened, my landings weren't solid. Instead of fretting over vaults, I went to my favorite apparatus: floor. I plugged in my iPod and played the song. My routine ended and I knew it was not perfect. My transitions were stiff and my landings weren't, like the vault, solid. The pressure has definitely got to me. I went to the gym an hour earlier everyday to get my routines right, but I couldn't. They weren't solid.

It was the last day before Nationals. I was not ready. I was standing in front of the uneven bars. I could finally master the Arabian Mount without the need to lose weight. I took a deep breath and began my routine. At the last turn, my hands slipped off the bars and I fell onto the mat. Exhausted of all my falls, I just lied there. I turned my body around so that I was on my back and looked at the ceiling. I closed my eyes and just stayed still. _Why can't I do this? I've done it perfectly all last week. What's going on?_ I asked myself.

"Kaylie," an all too familiar voice said. I opened my eyes and saw Sasha Belov hovering over me. I sat up and he took a seat on the mats.

"Talk to me, Kaylie."

"Sasha, every time I do my routine on any apparatus, it's not perfect. I always take a step on my vault landings; my hands slip off the bars as if I put butter on my hands and not chalk; the floor transitions are stiff and on beam, I always fall off. I can't do it. At all. I've tried and tried, but the same thing happens every single time," I sighed.

"I know what you're going through. The pressure has simply messed with your head. What I want you to do is breath deeply before any of your routine and say to yourself, "I can do this." Clear your head of everything and focus solely on your routine. Relax, Kaylie. You'll be able to do this and the National title will be yours tomorrow," Sasha said to me.

"Okay, I'll do that," I told him and got up. However, I didn't believe that I'd win tomorrow. So instead, I was going to stay after practice today.

I tried my bars routine once again. I took a deep breath and said, "I can do this". I did my Arabian Mount perfectly but when it comes to the last turn, my hands slipped. Once again, I found my face planted on the mat. I sighed and sat up. Everybody was now gone. It was past 7 o' clock.

_Austin's POV_

Nationals is tomorrow and judging by the way Kaylie's been training, she's under a lot of pressure. I'll take her out to dinner and hopefully calm her down. I dialed her number and waited for her to pick up. She didn't. I tried again and again, but the same outcome: she didn't pick up. So instead, I got out of my lake house and got into my car and drove to the Cruz residence. I punched in the security code and drove up the familiar driveway. I rang the doorbell and Leo Cruz opened the door.

"Austin Tucker, how may I help you?"

"Leo, is your sister home? I tried calling her but she didn't pick up," I told him.

"Yeah, she's not at home. She hasn't been home. She left the house this morning before I woke up. She's probably still at The Rock training." Of course. She's at The Rock. Typical Kaylie Cruz.

I nodded at Leo and got back in my car. I backed out of the driveway and drove towards The Rock. I saw her Mercedes was still parked there. I sighed and walked into The Rock. Kaylie was sitting on the mats with her face in her hands. I walked up towards her and put a hand on her shoulders. "Kaylie." She jumped and slapped my hands.

"Woah, woah, Kaylie. Chill, it's just me, it's Austin," I told her while putting my hands in the air.

"Crap, Austin. You scared the living daylight out of me. What are you doing here?"

"I was going to take you out to dinner and calm you down. What are you doing here?"

"Training," she shrugged. "I can't do any of my routines perfectly. At all. I don't know what to do, Austin."

I sighed. "Kaylie, listen to me." I took her waist and pulled her into a hug. "You are an amazing gymnast. You battled anorexia and look where that got you. You won Worlds. Everything that happened in the past made you a better gymnast. You just need to believe in yourself as much as everyone else believes in you. I believe in you, Sasha believes in you and so do Lauren, Payson, Max and Nicky. For all I know, Brad still believes in you." I stepped out of the hug and looked at her. She was tearing up.

"Oh, Kaylie, don't cry," I wiped the tears away.

"It's just, this pressure is driving me towards the brink of insanity. And okay, I promise I'll believe in myself," she told me and leaned in. We shared a quick kiss as we are in Sasha's territory after all and we promised no public display of affection anywhere in or near the gym.

"Now, go shower and change. I'm taking you to dinner," I told her and pushed her in the direction of the locker room.

* * *

><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> we hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! we had fun writing it :D so any ideas on what is going to happen during Nationals? leave it as a review!

and don't forget to **_REVIEW_**! xx


	13. THE PRESSURE'S ON

**Chapter 13**

The Rock's elite gymnasts arrived at Nationals and the reporters who pressed questions on whether Kaylie can retain her National Champion title greeted them all. The reporters also questioned the six gymnasts on their relationships and their friendship.

"We're all happy. We're best friends and things have been amazing," Lauren told the reporters.

"Kaylie Cruz, Austin Tucker, over here!" a reporter shouted. Kaylie and Austin wandered over to the reporter that they later learnt was from the number one Gymnastics magazine, Inside Gymnastics.

"So, tell us about your relationship."

"Uh, well," Kaylie began.

"We're happy and we're going strong. I love her," Austin continued.

"So you love her? What about you, Kaylie? What do you feel about Austin Tucker?"

"I love him, too," Kaylie replied and Austin gave her a kiss on her lips.

They walked towards the hotel and were stopped by a crowd of photographers.

"Can we have you six stand together?" The six elite gymnasts did what the photographers wanted. The guys' arms were draped around their girlfriend's shoulders and the girls had one of their hands around their boyfriends' waist and the other was placed on their hips. Needless to say, the three couples are the Gymnastics' "It" Couples. They were the people to beat. They all walked into the hotel after the photos were taken and Sasha greeted them.

"Here are your keys," Sasha said and handed Kaylie and Austin their keys. "Girls, you are all sharing a room and boys, your room is right opposite the girls. My room is not on the same floor as yours."

"Thank you, Sasha," Kaylie replied.

"Go on up, relax before the competition starts," Sasha urged them. The six gymnasts rolled their luggage towards the elevator and waited for the elevator's door to open. They all piled in and pressed the button labeled 26.

The girls filed into their room and the boys went into their room that was conveniently right opposite.

Kaylie went straight to the bed and sat down, taking in deep breaths. The pressure was beginning to pile on her shoulders and she couldn't relax, at all. Her breathing rate began to pick up and she started hyperventilating.

"Kaylie, are you okay?" Lauren questioned while sitting herself on the bed, looking at her friends who is uncontrollably breathing.

"Kaylie," Payson nudged her. She didn't respond but continued breathing. "Lauren, get some water!" Lauren got up and went towards the mini fridge and took out the complimentary bottle of water. She twisted off the cap and handed it to Payson. Payson brought the bottle up towards Kaylie but she didn't take it. "Kaylie! Calm down!" Lauren screamed. All that did was raise Kaylie's heart rate. Lauren began jumping up and down and trying to get Kaylie's attention. Nothing was working. Lauren was looking worriedly at Payson. They both ran out of their room at the same time and started knocking repeatedly at the boys' door. The door opened but Payson and Lauren didn't noticed and accidentally punched Max.

"Oh, crap, sorry, Max!" Lauren and Payson both gasped at the same time.

"That hurt. What's up?" Max asked while rubbing the sore spot.

"Kaylie, she's…she's, uh, she's…" Lauren couldn't find the right words. Max saw the look on their faces and turned his head around and shouted, "Austin!"

Austin, upon hearing his name, got up from the bed and walked towards the door and Nicky followed behind.

"What's wrong?" Austin asked.

"Kaylie, she's- " Payson said and pointed towards their room.

"What's wrong with her?" Austin demanded. They didn't reply and Austin pushed between Lauren and Payson and ran straight into the opposite room.

Inside, Kaylie was still sat on the bed, breathing heavily and beads of sweat were formed. "Shit, Kaylie!" Austin muttered and ran into the bathroom. He took a towel and ran it under the faucet. He soaked it in cold water and squeezed the water out. He took the cold towel and began wiping Kaylie's face. Kaylie managed to calm down and her breathing rate slowly returned to normal.

"Kaylie, are you okay?" Nicky asked and put his hand on her knee.

"Yeah, I, sorry. I felt the pressure and I couldn't control it and…and…"

"It's okay," Austin interrupted. "You scared the crap out of Payson and Lauren though." Beside him, Lauren and Payson relaxed and slumped in the chair.

"Get some rest, competitions begin tomorrow," Max said. They all agreed and the guys gave their girlfriends a quick kiss and went back into their room.

"Shit, Kaylie, don't _ever_ do that again," Payson said and flopped onto the bed, next to Kaylie.

"I was jumping around and waving my hands in the air and everything," Lauren said and sat on the other side of Kaylie.

"Sorry!" Kaylie apologized again. They all went into bed and Kaylie turned out the lights.

_Kaylie's POV_

I was the last to wake up out of the three of us. We all took turns in the shower and put on The Rock's leotard and tracksuit. I was determined to do well today. I will win, again. The title will remain mine. The opening speech finished and we marched onto the 'battlefield' with Sasha Belov leading us.

"Okay, I believe that you three will medal, under any circumstance. Kelly Parker may be your friend, but you three have to remain the best. I believe in you guys, your other teammates believe in you guys. Heck, your boyfriends believe in you guys," Sasha began. Huh, he said 'boyfriends'. That's the first time I ever heard him say that. I was surprised and clearly, I wasn't the only one as Payson and Lauren just looked at him, dumbfounded.

"Okay, Kaylie, you're up first. Knock it out of the park," Sasha said. I nodded and gave Lauren and Payson a hug and walked towards the uneven bars. I was the only person in the United States of America who could pull off the Arabian Mount. I had the highest degree of difficulty in the US. If I executed it perfectly, then I would win Gold for the uneven bars no doubt. I took a deep breath and performed my Uneven Bars routine. I gave myself an internal jump and smiled after I successfully executed my Arabian Mount. I could hear cheering erupt from the crowds and from my teammates. The rest of my routine was flawless and I was awarded the highest score of the day on the Uneven Bars. After I was done, I ran over to Sasha, Payson and Lauren and jumped into their arms.

Payson was next after me and her routine was amazing and flawless, just like me. She came in second after me. It was Lauren's turn and she, like the both of us, was amazing. After the first rotation, I was in first place, Kelly was in second and Lauren was in third place. Payson was half a point behind Lauren.

For our second rotation, we were on vault. Payson was up first and she perfectly performed her Yurchenko 2 ½ twists. Lauren did well on her clean vault and it was my turn. I ran down the runway and felt the moment. I did my front handspring and launched myself over the vault. I did one twist, two twists, three twists and lastly ½ twist. I landed on my feet solidly and didn't take an extra step. I was delighted with myself. Maybe I can win this year again.

Third rotation was beam, and of course, Lauren claimed top scores for that with her "Lauren Sizzle". She remained number one on beam in the United States. I didn't even feel disappointed that Lauren beat me in beam. I was happy for her.

Our last rotation finally came and it was floor. Payson went first and bloomed like a flower and she was beautiful. Her artistic movements were perfect and her limbs were fully extended. Lauren was next. Floor was not her strongest apparatus but her dance moves were flawless. It was finally my turn. I stepped onto the mat and raised my hands in salute. I began my routine that I practiced so many times before. My transitions were fluid and my landings were solid. It was time for my Arabian Double Front Layout. I took a deep breath and began my run. At the middle of the mat, I launched into my move. I flew and tumbled in the air and my landing was perfect; I was inside the outlined box and I did not take a step forwards or backwards. I smiled. I did my final transition and ended in the middle of the mat and blew my signature air-kiss towards the crowd. I got up and saluted. I ran back to my teammates who patted me on my back and enveloped me in hugs. I wanted to be in Austin's arms right now, but I know he's not here. He's in the gym next door competing for the gold, like I was. I lost track of where Payson, Lauren and I stood on the standings so we were standing there, nervously looking up at the scoreboard that hung above our heads. I could see Kelly Parker out of the corner of my eye and I gave her a smile, she smiled back. I haven't seen her since Worlds but at least she's not going to breath down my neck if she wins. We weren't enemies anymore. We were more than that. We are teammates, and we were friends.

"The 2011 National Champion is," the announcer began. I crossed my fingers and prayed to God. "Kaylie Cruz!" Upon hearing my name, I jumped up excitedly and gave Payson and Lauren a hug and then Sasha. I walked up towards the highest podium and received my Gold Medal and flowers. "Taking home the silver is Queen of the Beam, Lauren Tanner!" Lauren joined me on the stage and received her medal, she was beaming. "And Bronze goes to, from Rocky Mountain Gymnastics' Center, Payson Keeler!" Yes! What Sasha said to us before the competition began is coming true. We three medaled and we were the top three female gymnasts in the United States of America. Payson reached the stage and received her bronze medal and her flowers. I looked at Lauren and Payson and, like me, they were ecstatic. We raised our flowers in air and waved at everyone. When the ceremony was over, Kelly Parker came up to us.

"Congratulations, guys. You guys were amazing today. So turns out having boyfriends actually helps," Kelly said and we had a group hug.

"Thanks, KP. Winning fourth place isn't so bad, you know," I thanked her and tried to console her.

"Yeah, KP. Come to the after party with us?" Lauren said and Payson agreed. We all went back up to our room and got changed into our dresses for the after-party.

Lauren wore a dark blue Ellie Saab dress with a Kara Ackeman Designs bracelet and earrings. She wore black Jean-Michel Cazabat stilettos with the dress. Payson wore a cream colored Vivienne Westwood dress with Gio Diev heels and Lorraine Schwartz jewelry. I wore an electric-purple Marchesa mini dress with electric-blue Christian Louboutin pumps and a Dannijo ring and bracelets. We three curled our hair and left it down and went towards the party. We told the guys we'll meet them at the party instead of meeting them outside the rooms. We arrived at the event and we saw the guys' working the red carpet. Austin saw us and waved us over towards them. Max was wearing a black Armani suit with a white dress shirt. Nicky wore a white with black outlines Dolce & Gabbana suit. My boyfriend, Austin Tucker, was wearing a 3-piece Lanvin suit and an electric purple dress shirt. I giggled when I was close to him.

"What are you laughing at?" he questioned.

"It's just, we match, Austin. Your chemise and my dress? Both purple," I told him and turned towards the paparazzi. This time, he chuckled and wrapped his hand around my waist and posed. Once the photos were done, he took my hand and led me into the party. Our four best friends followed suit.

"Welcome everyone to the 2011 Nationals' after party!" the host yelled. The entire room erupted in cheers. "Before we start the party, please put your hands together and welcome this year's National Champions Kaylie Cruz and Austin Tucker!" I didn't know who won Nationals for boys but when the announcer said Austin's name. I was majorly excited. We were both National Champions!

"Gymnastics' Power Couple triumphs again!" the host shouted and everyone clapped and cheered. We got up onto the stage and were presented with a glass of champagne. We were told to pose as the photographers took photos of us. We sipped our champagne and the host got the party started. We got off the stage and rejoined our friends.

Needless to say, we partied the night away and for once, Sasha didn't tell us to go back to our rooms early.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> SORRY FOR THE LATE UPDATE :D i hope you guys enjoyed this :) don't forget to _vote_ for JOSIE LOREN and MAKE IT OR BREAK IT at the TCAs! :)

**please review! xx**


	14. AN UNEXPECTED RETURN

**Author's note:** so we are nearing the END to this storyy! this is the second last chapterr :( if you guys want another sequel, then all you have to do is REVIEW! lol :) so anyways, enjoy this chapter!

THANK YOU JULIA4552 for spotting our mistake about the Kaitlyn/Cassie name flub :D we fixed it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 14<strong>

_Kaylie's POV_

We got up early in the morning and headed on the bus. We drove back to Boulder, Colorado and were greeted by our parents. No one was there for me. Not my mum. Not my dad. Not even Leo. No one. I just went towards my car and sat on the hood with my legs crossed. I threw my bag into the backseat and watched everyone greet their parents.

I thought back to what my family's been through. _Heartache_. I thought back to the time my dad found out about my mum and Marty. I thought about his reaction. He moved out, into an apartment and left me in that house with my mum. I couldn't bear her, at all. I asked them for six months, to try and fix everything. They didn't try. They fought every single day. They couldn't agree on anything, especially the music for my floor routine. The whole half classical half techno song was just, I don't even know how to describe it.

The day I found out my mum "left for Paris", but in actual fact she moved in with Marty in Denver, it felt as if she gave up on everything. She gave up on me, on Leo, on my dad and on this marriage. She filed for divorce and my dad acceptingly signed it. Thinking about this, I could feel my cheeks burn with hot tears. I blinked and tried to hold the rest of my tears in, but my eyelids betrayed me. I brought my hand up to my face and wiped away the tears that are falling.

I looked around me and saw that everyone was happy. Payson was ecstatic to be in the arms of her mum, her dad and her sister. Even Lauren Tanner was happy to see her dad and Summer and rushed into their arms showing off her Silver Medal. My family used to be like this, but not anymore. If I could just go back in time and made sure that my dad and I had time for my mum, then maybe none of this would happen. Maybe all this – the title, the medal, the endorsements – isn't worth losing my family over. Maybe.

"Hey, babe, you okay?" a deep voice asked me and handed me a tissue. I looked up and saw that it was Austin. I took the tissue and wiped my tears. I cleared my throat.

"Uh, yeah," I told him, my voice was still cracked. "No, no I'm not."

"Tell me what's wrong?" he asked and lifted my chin so I could look at him. He does care. He does care about me. I smiled weakly.

"I was just thinking about my family. Maybe all this, everything, isn't worth losing my parents over," I told him and pulled him closer to me. He pushed a strand of hair out of my face and tucked it behind my ear. He caressed my face and I leaned in to his touch.

"Kaylie, everything happens for a reason. Usually for the better."

"Yeah, I know," I said under my breath and wrapped my hands around his neck. Just his presence makes me feel better. Him, next to me, chases my worries away. I gazed into his eyes and leaned forward. He did the same and our lips met halfway. He moved his hands around my waist and pressed me into him. I got off my car and stood on my tiptoes without breaking the kiss. A person clearing his throat ruined our moment. We broke apart abruptly and looked at the person. Oh man.

"I'm so sorry, Sasha," I told him and I could feel my cheeks flush a light pink color. Austin wrapped his hand around my shoulder.

"Sorry to ruin your, uh, whatever that was. But I just wanted to say congratulations on retaining your title, Kaylie. And you, too, Austin," Sasha stuttered and ran his hand through his short hair awkwardly. "Uh, so anyways, I'll see you on Monday, bright and early." Sasha turned around and walked away from us.

"Okay, that was awkward," Austin said, chuckling.

"Yeah, tell me about it," I agreed and turned to face him. I smiled at him and brought my lips back to meet his.

"Hey, lovebirds," a familiar voice said. I registered it in my head and knew whom it belonged to. Lauren Tanner. We broke apart, once again.

"Hey, Lo," I looked at her. "Payson, Nicky and Max."

"Yeah, we were just wondering if you wanted to go to Spruce Juice to celebrate," Payson said. "Though you guys are celebrating in a different way." Everyone chuckled. I swear I blushed a crimson color and Austin shifted next to me.

"Uh, yeah. Let's go to Spruce Juice," I told them and got into my car. Austin got into the passenger seat.

"What are you doing in my car?" I asked him.

"You're driving me," he said and gave me my favorite smirk. He buckled up and put on his sunglasses. He threw an arm around the head of my seat and started whistling. I just stared at him.

"Okay, fine. But don't whistle," I told him and lightly punched him in the arm.

"Okay, fine. I'll sing," he began to sing the lyrics to _You make me feel_ by Cobra Starship. He was so off tune and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Don't, Austin. Please, don't," I told him and leaned forward in my chair and gave him a peck on the lips. That shut him up, all right. He deepened the kiss and brought his hand towards my face and caressed it. I was lost in this moment and was brought back to reality when my phone buzzed. I answered the call and brought my phone to my ear.

"_Where are you and Austin? We're here already."_

"Uh yeah, we're on the way," I mumbled as Austin moved towards my neck. I hung up and pushed Austin lightly.

"Aw come on, Kay," he pleaded.

"We're late. They're all already there," I told him and put the key into my ignition. The car rumbled and I pulled out of the parking lot.

We arrived at Spruce Juice and I parked my car next to Lauren's. I got out and was putting my keys into my bag and didn't notice where I was walking. I bumped into someone and looked up.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking at where I was going," I told her and she turned around. "Oh my god, Emily." I looked at what she was holding in her hands, it was a pink blanket.

_Emily's POV_

I arrived back in Boulder. I was going to visit my mum and my brother and probably my friends, too. The first place I visited was the Pizza Shack but none of my friends were there. I remembered watching Nationals on TV last night. My best friends took home the top three medals. I was so happy for them. Though, I miss gymnastics a lot. The next place I thought I'd meet my friends were at Spruce Juice so I pulled up to the well-known smoothie store we always go to. There, I saw them all sitting. Max, Payson, Nicky and Lauren. They were seated at our usual table but two seats were still empty. I'm guessing Austin and Kaylie would be coming soon. I had little Cassie with me in my arms, wrapped in a pink blanket. Someone bumped into me.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't looking at where I was going," the voice said. I knew that voice. It belonged to Kaylie Cruz. I turned around and looked at her and I saw her eyes open wide. "Oh my god, Emily."

"Hey, Kaylie," I told her, giving her a smile.

"What are you doing here?" She asked me and went in for a hug. I wrapped one arm around her, carefully to not squish my daughter.

"I'm here to visit family and you guys," I told her. She led me into Spruce Juice with Austin's arm around her shoulders.

"Hey guys," I said and they all looked at me, surprised. I guess if I were them, I'd be surprised because I didn't exactly leave on a good note. I was mad at Kaylie but to think about it, Damon and I weren't together at that time, so I forgave her. I didn't keep in contact with any of them for the past ten months and now, at this moment, I'm here, in front of them.

"Hey, Em," they all said one after another. Kaylie brought a spare chair over and I took the seat, I placed little Cassie on my laps.

"Emily, how have you been?" Payson questioned.

"How's Vegas?" classic Lauren Tanner asked.

I guess I might as well tell them everything's that been going on since I left.

"Well, as you all know I went to live with my godmother in Vegas to take care of the pregnancy and everything. A week later, I saw Damon in Vegas and asked him what he was doing here and he just said that he wants to be here for me and for the baby. So then he moved in with my godmother and me. He got a job singing at a restaurant and so our income is taken care of. I went to the doctors for my second ultra sound and found out that it was a girl," I told them and looked down at my daughter and smiled.

"This is Cassie, everyone."

There was a chorus of "Aw" and "She's so cute" from my friends.

"And then the 9 months were up and I went into labor. It was painful so don't do anything stupid enough to get yourself pregnant until you're absolutely sure you're ready," I lectured them. They all just laughed.

"Babies are a pain in the ass. They are up at ungodly hours and cries non-stop. I barely had any sleep the past month. But all in all, I'm glad I have her. I'm happy that I decided not to abort and become a mother."

"What about Damon?" Kaylie asked.

"Damon and I, we're back together. We're not getting married any time soon; at least, I don't want to get married right now. Yes, even though we have a kid together, I just don't think I'm in the right position to be tied to someone for, I guess, the rest of my life, you know?" They all just nodded understandingly. "So, enough about me, I saw you all medaled at Nationals yesterday. Congratulations!"

"Yeah, I guess. We miss you, though. You going to come back to gymnastics?" Lauren inquired.

"Lauren," Payson shot her a death glare.

"No, it's okay Payson. I thought about gymnastics a lot when I was pregnant. But after having her, I guess I have more important things than having a career at this age. I've wondered whether or not I'd be able to come back to gymnastics. Be an elite gymnast again, but I don't think that's possible. I've never tried but I want to."

"Have you asked Sasha about this?" Kaylie queried. I shook my head. We continued talking about what's been going around for the past ten months and they briefly mentioned a Brad. What I learnt about Brad was that he was from Portland, he came to The Rock under the watchful eye of Sasha and somehow he got Kaylie to dump Austin for him. Then apparently Kaylie got in an accident – wow, repetition much? – and wound up in the exact same hospital bed as when she fell from the beam at Worlds' Trials. Somehow, they found out that Kaylie was still in love with Austin and they got back together and Brad moved away. They tried explaining the whole thing between Nicky and Lauren but I still couldn't understand how Android Nicky could date "Bitch of the beam" Lauren. And then there was the whole cheating-on-me fiasco between Max and Payson. So apparently Sasha caught them six go on a triple date and ordered them in an hour earlier the next day. But he just gave them "the talk" and allowed them to date. Sasha Belov, out of all people, allowed them to go to New York two weeks before Nationals. I knew they went to New York, I saw the tabloids with their pictures plastered everywhere. They had a four-page spread in Seventeen magazine. I missed those days. Now, I was one of those "where are they now?" gymnast and no one even remembers me.

We parted ways at around dinner time and I got in my car and drove to The Rock. Once I arrived, I parked my car in my old parking spot, which was now left empty, and got out. I put Cassie into a stroller and pushed her into the gym.

"Cassie, mommy used to train here every single day of the week from 6 to 5," I told my daughter while looking at the once familiar gym. The office light was still on and I figured Sasha was still here. I went up the stairs and knocked on the double glass door.

"Come in," the deep Romanian voice called out. I pushed the door open and went in.

"Hey, Sasha," I said and he looked up, shocked.

"Emily Kmetko. Long time no see," he said and got up out of his chair.

"Hey, Sasha. This is Cassie Kmetko-Young," I introduced my daughter to him who was now fast asleep in her stroller. He smiled at her and gave me a hug.

"What are you doing here at The Rock?"

"Sasha, I want to train again."

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> so we hope you enjoyed that :) which one of you thought EMILY was going to returnn? :D hahhhahaa. so there's one last thing y'all need to do, and that is...

**_PLEASE REVIEW! xx_**


	15. HOLDING ON TO THE PAST

**Author's note:** hey! so here it is, the FINAL chapter in this story :) enjoy it!

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><p><strong>Chapter 15<strong>

_Kaylie's POV_

After meeting Emily and young Cassie, I was glad I told Damon to go after her. Even though I did feel something for Damon during our song-writing days, he was better off with Emily. And plus, I'm with Austin now and I won't let another guy get between us. I made that mistake once with Brad and look where that got me. I wound up in the hospital after my attempt to talk some sense into Austin and I confessed my love for Austin when I was sedated and Brad decided to lie to my face about it. I've seen all the signs that Austin and I should be together; I believe those signs. I followed my heart and that led me to Austin Tucker. I pulled up into The Rock's parking lot.

I remember the first day I came here. I was a five-year old girl that lived a good life thanks to my parents. It was the first time I was introduced to gymnastics. At first, it was merely just something I did during my free time or when I needed to relax. When I was seven, I decided that I wanted to go to the Olympics and my dream never wavered. I quickly fell in love with gymnastics and I thrived to be the best. Gymnastics led me to my best friends: Lauren Tanner and Payson Keeler. We became best friends quickly and were inseparable from then on. We endured _everything_ together. The flawless routines, the face-plants, everything.

I sat in my car looking at the Rocky Mountain Gymnastics Training Center. This place was my childhood; it was my pre-school, my middle school and high school. Look how far I've come. I used to be the five year old girl who was scared to try out new stuff and now, I am the two-time National Champion, Worlds Gold Medalist, Captain of the US National Team and the best female gymnast in the US. I beat Genji Cho and Ivanka Kirilenko at Worlds. I suffered anorexia, but that made me a better gymnast. Everything that happened, every good or bad thing, made me the gymnast I am today.

I sighed and got out of my car and I saw Austin pull into the parking lot with his conspicuous cherry red Ferrari. I stood by my car and waited until he got out.

"Hey," I told him once he finished locking his car.

"Hey, beautiful," he replied and rounded his car and walked towards me. I wrapped my hands around the nape of his neck and he laid his hands on my waist.

"Did I tell you that you look beautiful?" he sighed.

"Did I tell you I love you?" I countered.

He leaned closer to me. "Every…single…day," he told me and gave me quick kisses in between each word. "And, I love you, too."

"Let's go in," I said and released my grasp from his neck and intertwined my fingers with his.

_Emily's POV_

I asked Sasha whether or not I could come back to becoming an elite gymnast. He was resistant at first but I begged him. So hear I am, outside of The Rock in my leotard that I have not worn, much less touched, for the past 10 months. Everybody was already inside, training. I couldn't help but think about how Lauren, Payson and Kaylie were all training to be on the Olympics Team. Though I know they were a definite shoo-ins. They all took home medals at this years' Nationals and obviously, they were the three best female gymnasts in the United States.

I took a deep breath and pushed the main door that led into the gym. I tried to make my appearance as low-key as possible, but that was not the case. As I walked towards Sasha's office, I could feel everyone's gaze on me, burning through my flesh. I finally reached the double glass doors and slid them open.

"Emily, are you sure you want to do this?"

"Yes, Sasha, I am," I assured him.

"Listen to me, Emily. You may _try_ but don't be disappointed if things don't turn out the way you planned," I nodded understandingly and he put his arm on my shoulders. He led me downstairs and introduced me to my friends, once again.

"Hey, guys," I called out to them. They stopped stretching off and looked at me, confused as to what I was doing in a leotard at 6 in the morning.

"Hey, Em, what are you doing here?" Lauren asked.

"I want to become a gymnast again," I told them. I could see their reactions. I knew what they were all thinking: _Emily, you can't be a gymnast ever again after the pregnancy_. But I didn't care. I will try my hardest to become an Olympic gymnast.

"Uh, are you sure, Em? I mean you haven't done any gymnastics at all for a while," Kaylie told me.

"I'm sure," I smiled at them and headed to my favorite, and best, apparatus: vaults. I stood at the end of the runway and took a deep breath. I sprinted as fast as I could and launched myself over the vault, I did one twist but l was already too close to the mat. I fell straight on my back. Damn it. I couldn't even do a simple vault. I re-tried the vault and landed in the same position – on my back. I moved onto floor, thinking that this was my second best apparatus. I was so stiff during all my transitions and I could not even perform a back handspring layout correctly and that was a basic skill. I pushed myself harder and harder. I sneaked a peek at what my friends were doing. Lauren was amazing on beam, as always, and Payson stuck her landing solidly on vaults. The last person I looked at was Kaylie. She was on the uneven bars. Her routine was flawless and she managed to add in the Round Off Arabian Mount. Her degree of difficulty was the highest in the whole United States.

I walked towards Kaylie. "Hey, congratulations on the Arabian Mount and the highest DOD," I told her and giving her a hug.

"Thanks, Em. Did you know? I have a higher DOD than Genji Cho on bars?" she was full of enthusiasm and I smiled at her. "Do you want to give the bars a go, Em?"

"Yeah, it may not be my strongest apparatus, but why not, right?" She smiled at me encouragingly and I went to chalk up. I thought back to the time I won bronze on the uneven bars against China.

"Trust," I whispered and mounted the bars. I slipped off the bars countless times. Kaylie always helped me back up. After the tenth fall, or so, I decided to give up on bars. I couldn't do vaults, floor or bars.

"You going to try beam?" I looked up to see who was talking to me and found the Queen of the Beam looking at me. "You don't have to if you don't want to, you know."

"I'm going to do it," I told her and stood myself up and walked towards the beam. I hated beam. I dreaded the 4-inch plank of wood that would laugh at me mockingly every single day. I never did well, ever. I couldn't – beam was not my area of expertise.

I closed my eyes and once again, took a deep breath. I mounted the beam the simple way and slowly stood up. It felt weird balancing on the beam. I tried doing a simple cartwheel and my hand positions were off and I fell off the beam. I couldn't even do a single cartwheel on the freaking beam! I decided to give up and just sat idly on the beam. I could hear my friends' footsteps against the mats and they joined me on the beam, putting their arms around me in consolation.

"It's okay, you guys. I knew I wouldn't be able to be a gymnast but I didn't listen to my intuition," I sighed and they rubbed my back.

"Emily," the deep-voiced male said. We all looked up to see our coach – no, he was their coach and is my ex-coach.

"You must know that you still have the skills, the talent. But you won't be able to be a gymnast anymore or an elite gymnast. Your body has changed. Once you got pregnant, it stimulated hormones and you've grown. Your body is not fit for a gymnast anymore. I'm sorry, Emily," he told me and put a hand on my shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.

"No, it's okay. I've known that after Cassie I wouldn't be able to do this. But I just thought that maybe, if I tried hard enough, that maybe I'd be able to do gymnastics again," I informed Sasha and my three best friends. My dream was now forever crushed. I was in no position to ever revive my Olympic dream and that's just something I have to deal with. I now have to go to college and major in a career that will give my daughter a stable life.

"I'm going to go home, I'll see you all later?" I asked the girls and they all nodded. I got off the beam and went to put on my tracksuit and walked out of The Rock once last time. I turned back to face the entrance and took in the divine building that helped me get on the National Team.

"Thank you for everything," I mumbled and got into my car and drove away without looking back. I parked the car outside of our apartment and walked in. Brian was still at school and my mother, Chloe Kmetko, was at work as a receptionist at an office and not as a bartender wearing spandex at a bar. My phone buzzed and I took it out. Damon sent me a text message and just seeing his name made me smile. I pressed the _Open_ button and read the message.

_I'm coming to Boulder. I miss you and Cassie. See you soon. Love you! _

I needed him here with me, especially after my dream erupted in flames. I quickly texted him back: 'Good. Get here as quick as possible. I miss you, too. I love you, too, Damon'. I put my phone back into my bag and sat on the couch. I reached to the coffee table and grabbed the TV remote. I turned it on and as if to mock me, Worlds was on.

"Great," I sighed and watched the competition again, for the fifth time, contemplating what could have been.

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><p><strong>Author's note:<strong> Okay, so here we are, at the end of another story! We hope you enjoyed this story as much as we enjoyed working on it! But, don't worry, we're nearly done writing the sequel so, if you're lucky, we may post the first chapter tomorrow! Please remember to check out the sequel **Home sweet home: Boulder** when we publish it!

Thank you for all your support! We love you guys. Last thing to do: **_PLEASE REVIEW_! xx**


	16. SEQUEL PREVIEW

**Preview to the sequel: Home sweet Home: Boulder **

***Kaylie opening her door and seeing Damon***

_"Damon, you're back." _

_"I love you, Kaylie." _

***Kaylie and Emily talking after Damon leaves***

_"Emily, I'm not like Serena van der Woodsen. I'm nothing like her." _

_"Really? Save it, Kaylie. To me, you're eveerything like her."_

***Kaylie turns and sees Austin standing in the doorway after Emily leaves***

_ "Save it, do what you got to do. I don't want to be involved anyway." _

_"Are we breaking up?" _

_"No. We're taking a break until you're done with him. Cause i know i am."_

***At Spruce Juice with the best friends***

_"Carter?" I heard Lauren say. I turned around and i saw Lauren...and Carter. _

_"Carter, what are you doing here?" "I came back to take what was and still is mine," he said and smiled st me. Oh no, not again. _

***At Kaylie's house***

_"You know, we should throw a party. Us, not the guys. Us," I suggested._

***Sasha enters their party***

_ "I can explain..." _

_"No need. I'll see you guys bright and early in the morning. At 5."_

***Going to the Denver mall***

_ "Hey, where are you guys? We're st Starbucks," Austin said through e phone._

_ "Alright, be there in five minutes." we walked there and it was a sight we didn't need to see. _

_"Austin?"_

_ "Oh, you know Austin? He's my boyfriend." _A skimpy blonde said.

_"We have to go," i told the guys and their "girlfriends" and walked away, with Lauren and Payson behind me. _

***A shot of the girls at Kaylie's house, talking on the phone to Sasha***

_"You three are going on holiday," Sasha said. _

_"Where are we going?" _

_"Hawaii."_

***Kaylie bumps into a friend on the beach in Honolulu***

_ "Kaylie Cruz?" _

_"Uh, yeah, Tyler, hey." _

_"This is Kaylie Cruz, my coudin's best friends. Kaylie, this is Dew Deveux and James Moore."_

***Austin, Max and Nicky arrives in Hawaii***

_"Austin, it's not what it looks like." _

_"Then what is it?" Nicky snapped._

_ "This is Tyler Tanner."_

***Girls are in a dark alley***

_"Hey pretty ladies."_

_"Just keep walking," Payson whispered._

_"Aw babe, come on."_

***Shot of the girls giving James, Tyler and Drew hugs***

_"You guys saved our lives!"_

***Girls and James, Tyler and Drew arrives in a remote village***

_"Welcome to Loakai?"_

_"Where's Loakai?"_

_"No idea."_

***A shot of Tyler talking to the villages' leader***

_"Thank you for keeping us here."_

***Tyler and Kaylie talking***

_"Kaylie, I still like you. I may actually love you."_

_"I love Austin Tucker."_

***Shot of Austin, Nicky and Max talking***

_"I'm in love with Kaylie Cruz."_

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><p><strong>WE HOPE YOU GUYS ENJOYED THIS PREVIEW! <strong>

**The first chapter of the new sequel: Home sweet home: Boulder will be coming up soon! **

**Please leave a _REVIEW_** **to tell us what you think of it. Thank You :D xoxo**


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